Just Friends
by inomniaparatus01
Summary: Eight years after she graduated Yale, Rory Gilmore once again crosses paths with a certain someone from her past while at work. Agreeing to be just friends, they try to move on with their lives, but being just friends with Logan Huntzberger is going to be more challenging than Rory expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note:** This story has been brewing in my mind for months. In fact, I started writing it the same week that I finished writing Turn Around, but between life getting in the way, and a case of writer's block, this got put on the back burner, for a lot longer than I would have liked. This story is written post series, eight years post series to be exact, but isn't in line with the revival. Instead, it's just a fictional version of events that I thought up, to occupy myself until the revival arrived. I hope you enjoy it, and please leave me a review to let me know what you think.

* * *

 _Rory Gilmore was trying not to freak out. Standing backstage she frantically went through her notecards one last time, and absent mindedly smoothed out her skirt. As she heard her name called, she took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage. As she went to stand behind the podium, she realized that the back of her skirt was caught in her pantyhouse. She could have sworn that this wasn't the case when she was standing stage-left, but now it definitely was. She could feel herself turning red, but it appeared that no one seemed to notice, so she decided to start her speech._

 _"Ladies, Gentlemen, members of the award committee, I would like to thank you very much for this nomination."_

 _Rory was nervous, and her hands were shaking a little bit. She had been gripping her note cards tightly, suddenly, the cards all went flying, and fell around the podium, some falling off stage._

 _"Shit." Rory turned red._

 _"Oh, no. I'm sorry." Rory wanted to crawl in a hole and hide. She couldn't believe how poorly this was going._

 _"Let me start again. Ladies, Gentlemen, and members of the award committee. My name is Rory Gilmore and I would thank you for honour of being named as a Pulitzer Prize winner."_

 _Before she could continue, Paul Anka (the dog, not the man) jumped up onto the stage and started barking at her._

 _"Shoo… Shoo… Paul Anka you need to get off this stage. Now!" Rory hissed._

 _"Sorry, where was I? Thank you so much for the honour of being the recipient of this year's Pulitzer Prize in journalism."_

 _Ring… Ring… Ring…_

 _A cell phone started going off in the audience._

 _Ring… Ring… Ring…_

 _The phone kept ringing._

 _Rory squinted looking out into the audience to see where the noise was coming from._

 _Ring… Ring… Ring..._

 _Rory finally saw the source of the ringing. It was her mother._

 _"Rory! It's for you hun!"_

 _Ring… Ring… Ring…_

 _Lorelai walked down the aisle of the auditorium, and reached out to hand the phone to Rory._

 _Ring… Ring… Ring…_

 _"Mom! Not now!" Rory hissed._

 _Ring… Ring… Ring…_

Rory awoke with a start. Getting her bearings, she realized she wasn't on stage, she definitely wasn't receiving a pulitzer prize, and she had been woken up by the ringing of her cell phone. Reaching over to the bedside table, she grabbed her phone to answer it.

"Hello" Rory said, trying to shake off the grogginess.

"Good day, I'm looking to speak to Rory Gilmore." the voice on the other end of the phone told her.

"This is she." Rory said, sitting up.

"Ms. Gilmore, this is Jim Dunbar. I am the editor-in-chief of The Current Magazine. We have received a copy of your resume, and would like to invite you in for an interview for the managing editor position for our magazine."

Rory was fully awake now. "Mr. Dunbar, thank-you so much."

"Ms. Gilmore, we would like to set up an interview with you in the next few days. As you know we are based out of New York City. Would this work for your schedule?" Jim asked her.

"Yes, Mr. Dunbar. I'm currently in Boston, but I should be back to the city on Thursday." Rory told him.

"Friday morning at 9am work for you?"

"Yes sir, that would be perfect." Rory told him.

"We will see you then."

"Looking forward to it." Rory told him as they disconnected the phone.

Rory looked at the clock, and realized it was time to get out of bed. Flipping the blankets off of her, she smiled as she got up and went to her suitcase, to get ready for the day.

* * *

An hour and three coffees later, Rory found herself walking into the Boston Globe office. She had been hired as a temp reporter and had been working here for the last six weeks. Her term was up tomorrow, and she would then be heading back to Stars Hollow for a few days. This was the longest gig she had in the last three years, and it had been nice to spend more than a few days in one place.

Sitting down at her desk she decided to give her mother a quick call to discuss this mornings news.

"Talk to me" Lorelai answered.

"Mom! Hi" Rory greeted in return.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your phone call this morning?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, other than a really weird dream that I totally need you to help me analyze later, I actually have some news!" Rory said.

"Oh honey, Mommy really doesn't want to hear about your sex dreams." Lorelai told her.

"Mom, no. Ew!" Rory responded.

"Well I'm sorry but I know it's been weeks since you've seen Paul, and well, people have needs." Lorelai said.

"Mom, no. I'm not discussing that with you. Especially not now, from the office." Rory sighed.

"Look, the reason I'm calling is that I got a call for an interview this morning. Something permanent." Rory explained.

"Oh?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, it's for a position with The Current magazine. I applied for their managing editor position a few months ago but hadn't heard anything. They called me this morning. I guess they waited to fill it. Anyway I'm going in to New York for an interview on Friday."

"Oh Rory, that's so great! Paul is going to be thrilled!" Lorelai gushed to her daughter.

"Yeah, I guess." Rory said.

"Don't sound so excited" Lorelai replied sarcastically.

"Oh mom, I'm excited. But…" Rory trailed off.

"But what?" Lorelai asked.

"It's just that. If we're both in the same city, he's going to want me to move in with him." Rory sighed.

"Well you guys have been dating for two years. It's the next logical step." Lorelai told her daughter.

"I know… It's just… I don't know…" Rory rambled.

"I just don't really think I'm there yet." Rory sighed.

"Well Hun, there's nothing wrong with getting your own place, but it just seems like a waste of money if you or Paul will be taking turns staying at each other's apartments." Lorelai told her.

"I know…" Rory trailed off.

"Plus, you love Paul. We all love Paul, even Luke. He's good for you Rory. So sweet, and kind. He suits you so well." Lorelai told her. "Excuse me though, while I go throw up, that was too cheesy even for me." She continued.

"Look mom, I just don't know. I just don't think I'm quite ready for that step…"

"Yet." Rory added as an afterthought.

Rory looked up and saw her boss signalling her to come see him

"Look mom, I've gotta go. We can talk about this more when I get home tomorrow night. Have a great day, I love you." Rory said

"Love you too kid. See you tomorrow." Lorelai told her.

* * *

The next two days flew by in a blur and by the time Rory pulled into Stars Hollow she was exhausted. She had three days until her interview with The Current and she definitely needed some rest and relaxation time before she left for the city.

By the time she arrived at her mother's house it was nearly 10 and she was starving. Walking into the kitchen she saw that Luke had brought her home dinner from the diner. Giving Luke a big hug and a kiss on the cheek Rory told him she had missed him.

"Hey, why does he get the hug first?" Lorelai pouted.

"Mom, you know Gilmore rule #2. Honor thy person who provides you with food." Rory smiled as she walked into her mother's arms.

"Fair point." Lorelai told her.

"Hey, what's Gilmore rule #1?" Luke asked.

"Coffee is its own food group." The girls said in unison.

"I should have known" Luke muttered and shook his head.

Sitting down at the table, Rory eagerly dug into the burger and fries, barely stopping to breathe or chew.

"It's nice to know you still have your appetite. You're looking a little on the thin side." Lorelai told her.

"I'm fine mom. Really, just busy." Rory said between bites.

"Well I'm going to head up to bed. Leave you girls to catch up." Luke said, kissing Lorelai on the head.

"To be honest, I'm pretty wiped. I think I'm going to head to bed myself." Rory told her mother.

"Oh. Ok." Lorelai said, slightly disappointed.

"Well I cleared my schedule for you tomorrow, it'll be nice to catch up. Goodnight sweetie." Lorelai said and headed up to bed as well.

Rory finished her food, and got ready for bed. Climbing into bed she pulled out her laptop and decided to do some reading on The Current. Soon she had fallen asleep on her computer, which is where Lorelai found her lying at an awkward angle the next morning.

Holding a steaming cup of coffee for her daughter, Lorelai gently tried to wake her. It was almost 10am and Rory never slept this late.

"She really must be exhausted." Lorelai muttered to herself.

Setting the coffee down on the desk, Lorelai went over and removed the laptop from Rory's arms, tucked her in.

Just before noon, Lorelai finally heard stirrings from the next room.

A bleary eyed Rory stumbled into the kitchen and made a beeline for the pot of coffee.

"Welcome to the land of the living." Lorelai smirked.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sleep so late, I just haven't had much time off lately." Rory told her.

"Rory, it's ok. Clearly you needed the rest. Now, finish that coffee and get ready so I can take you to breakfast… Err… Lunch." Lorelai said.

"Though I'm sure that for you, Luke would still make pancakes." She continued.

"Ok, ok let me go get dressed." Rory stumbled back into the bedroom.

Twenty minutes later they were out and about in Stars Hollow, where unsurprisingly Rory was ambushed by what felt like half the town. It took them an hour to get into Luke's, and by then Rory had decided that another burger was what she needed.

Following their trip to Luke's, Lorelai and Rory spent the rest of the day around town, doing nothing in particular, but had begun the early preparations for Gilmore movie night.

"Mom, I haven't had this much candy since well… Our last Gilmore movie night." Rory laughed.

"Ooh! We need these too!" Lorelai said reaching for a bag of gummy bears.

"Lorelai, honestly. You're going to give yourself diabetes if you aren't careful." Taylor told her as they were checking out at Doose's Market.

"Pfft. You underestimate the capabilities of the Gilmore digestive tract." Lorelai said as they prepared to head for home.

The rest of the evening was a blur, and Lorelai had to head back to the Dragonfly the next morning so Rory was on her own for a few hours before she needed to leave for the city.

Pulling out her laptop she performed a Google search on The Current. Looking at the news she wrinkled her nose. There were some rumours that The Current might be bought out by another company. She hoped that this wouldn't have any effect on her potential job.

A few hours later she found herself pulling into New York. Heading for Paul's apartment in Queens, she found herself thinking about her boyfriend.

He was a photographer, they had met when she was filling in for two weeks at the New York Daily News. He had taken an interest in her right away, but it wasn't until she was back in the city three months later that he had finally convinced her to go out on a date.

She hadn't wanted anything serious, but he was persistent, and eventually, she agreed to give dating a try. Although she was dating him exclusively, with the almost constant distance, she still had the feel of something more casual. The idea of getting more serious, made her feel anxious, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

Arriving at his apartment, he opened the door, wrapped his arms around her, and spun her, giving her a kiss before setting her back down.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey yourself." Paul replied.

"I've missed you" he continued.

"I've missed you too." Rory fibbed.

"Come on in, set your stuff down. I made us dinner." Paul gestured behind him, to where candles and a fancy meal sat on his table.

"Looks delicious" Rory told him and they sat down and dug in.

By the time dinner was over and they retired to the couch Paul leaned in and started nuzzling her neck. Rory pushed back gently.

"I'm really sorry Paul, but I need to do some prep for this interview tomorrow." Rory told him, sliding off the couch and walking over to retrieve her computer bag.

Paul sighed and got up to go clean the kitchen.

Hours later, Paul poked his head back to the living room. "Hey, Rory, I need to head to bed. Early day tomorrow. But what do you say about dinner tomorrow night in celebration of your interview?" Paul asked.

Rory winced. "Paul, I'm really sorry. I promised my mom I would head back to Stars Hollow tomorrow to head to Friday night dinner with my grandparents."

"Oh. Ok. But you'll be back soon, right?" Paul asked.

"Definitely." Rory smiled, and leaned over her laptop to give him a kiss.

He wasn't so bad she thought, in some ways, he reminded her a little of a more mature version of Dean. She shook her head, and got back to work.

* * *

The next morning, she found herself sitting on the thirtieth floor of a downtown office building waiting for her interview. She spent this time running through everything she planned to say.

"Ms. Gilmore. Jim will see you now." The receptionist told Rory, breaking her from her daze.

Rory followed the receptionist to Jim Dunbar's office where he quickly introduced himself.

"So Ms. Gilmore…" Jim started.

"Oh, please call me Rory." She told him.

"Rory" Jim smiled. "For someone so young, you certainly have a fantastic resume. Editor of the Yale Daily News, and your work on the Obama campaign especially.

"Thank-you sir. As you probably noticed, I've been doing a lot of temp work across the country for the last few years. As you know, the newspaper industry has been in a bit of a struggle with the advent of technology. I've done what I could to keep current, without having a full time job." She told him.

"Nonsense Rory, your work speaks for itself. Glowing recommendations from everyone I've spoken to. The Post, The Boston Globe, Hugo wanted me to tell you hi by the way." Jim told her.

"It's been a long time since I've heard from Hugo. I really enjoyed working for him. She told Jim.

"He told me that the hardest thing he ever had to do at work was having to lay you off after the campaign."

Rory smiled. Though the interview seemed to be going well, the rumours she read online last night were still making her nervous. She decided the best approach would just be to ask.

"I've heard rumours that The Current is in the process of being bought out." Rory told him.

"I'm afraid that is true, but since the paperwork hasn't been signed yet I'm afraid I cannot divulge any more than that, but I can assure you that it will have no impact other than who signs our paychecks." Jim explained.

In Rory's brain something clicked. Did he just say our paychecks?

Jim smirked.

"You probably noticed that I just said our paychecks. I just want to let you know that this interview was more of a formality than anything. I was fully prepared to offer you the job over the phone if need be. I know talent when I see it, and with your experience, you'll be a great contribution to The Current editing team." Jim smiled.

"Mr. Dunbar, thank you so much!" Rory gushed.

"Please, call me Jim. We aren't too formal around here." He told her.

"So Jim, what exactly will this position as managing editor cover?" Rory asked.

"Well, you will work directly for me, and will be overseeing the day to day editing process for the magazine. With the new purchase and the restructuring, I'm staying on as editor-in-chief but I am going to be acting as a go between with the new company and the magazine. There is going to be some minor restructuring, someone from the new company will be taking the office next to mine and will be working from this building permanently." He explained.

Rory nodded, all this made sense.

The next few hours were a blur as they went over her salary, expectations, and signing bonus. A tour of the company, and a tour of her office left Rory very excited to start. Everyone she spoke to seemed to be really passionate about their jobs.

She was practically bursting at the seams with excitement as she started the drive back to Stars Hollow. It was going to be a busy weekend, she was starting with The Current first thing on Monday.

She pulled into Stars Hollow just before five and burst into the house.

"Mom!" Rory yelled.

"Mom! I got the job! I'm starting Monday!" Rory gushed.

Looking around the house, she didn't see her mother.

Walking into the kitchen, she saw her mother sitting at the table.

"Hey, mom! Did you hear me? I got the job!" Rory said again.

Her mother didn't acknowledge her.

"Hey, mom is everything ok?" Rory said waving her hand in front of Lorelai's face.

"Mom! What's wrong?" Rory asked again, finally snapping Lorelai out of her daze.

"Mom?" Rory asked again.

"Oh, hi honey." Lorelai said absentmindedly.

"Mom did you hear me? I got the job! I start Monday!"

"Oh honey, that's great." Lorelai said with much less enthusiasm than Rory had anticipated.

"Mom, what's the matter?" Rory asked again.

Lorelai paused, gathering her thoughts.

"Rory, it's your grandfather. He had another heart attack. Sweetie, he didn't make it." Lorelai said, her eyes filling with tears.

Rory felt like all the wind had been taken out of her sails. Every ounce of excitement she had faded away in an instant. Sinking into the chair next to her mother she sat in disbelief, and then she began to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** T- 5 days! Is everyone else as excited as I am? Here's the next chapter in Just Friends saga. Again, I would really appreciate it if you leave me some feedback to let me know what you think so far!

* * *

Three weeks had passed since the death of Richard Gilmore, and Rory was holding it together better than anyone. It had been three of the most challenging weeks of her life, her mother had been no help, and her grandmother refused to come out of her bedroom except for the funeral. If it hadn't been for Paul and Luke, Rory had no idea what she would have done.

Paul had cleared his schedule the minute she had phoned him, and took the time to arrange with The Current a delayed start date for her. He had been her rock, her support, running errands back and forth between Stars Hollow and Hartford.

Rory and Paul had been staying with Emily since the day after Richard's death. It had been extremely difficult, especially the first week. Even the day of the funeral, Rory had to march into Emily's bedroom, open the curtains, drag her out of bed and basically push her into the shower. Luke, had slightly more success with Lorelai, but neither woman was functioning to any level that seemed human.

It had been frustrating and difficult, Rory was hurting too, but she had to pull herself together to make sure that Richard got the funeral he deserved. She was thankful that Richard had put a number of stipulations in place on what he wished to occur in the event of his death, and Paul and Luke were able to take care of the majority of the arrangements, which gave Rory the opportunity to spend time focusing on the eulogy she was going to give.

The day of the funeral had been the hardest, but Rory pushed through. She hadn't been 100% happy with the eulogy, but she was convinced that no matter how much she had worked on it she would never have been happy.

That had been two weeks ago, though they were still in Hartford, helping Emily get her life without Richard in order. That would be changing tonight though, it was time to head back to New York. As it was Friday night, Rory and Lorelai decided that the best plan was to push forward with a Friday night dinner with Emily, though Rory and Paul would need to return to New York afterward, as there was a work event for The Current taking place on Saturday evening. She wasn't scheduled to start until Monday, but she decided it was important to attend the merger party to get to know her new co-workers a bit better.

Rory had been so wrapped up in everything that had been going on, she had completely tuned out anything that didn't directly correlate to what was going on in Hartford. She had been taken by surprise when Jim had called her two days ago to confirm she would be starting on Monday, and to inform her of the merger party on Saturday.

Today had been going well, Emily had actually spent the majority of her day outside of the bedroom. This made Rory happy, it was nice to see Emily almost back to normal, well, as normal as you could be three weeks after losing your spouse.

By 6:30 however, all that had changed, Emily had been sniping at the maid, and the cook, for most of the afternoon, trying to make sure that everything would be perfect, but as dinner time approached, Rory recognized the familiar signs that Emily was withdrawing within herself again.

By the time Lorelai and Luke arrived, Emily had locked herself in her bedroom, and no matter what Rory did, she could not get her to come out.

"Hey, mom" Rory greeted Lorelai and gave her a hug.

"Lorelai, Luke" Paul nodded.

"Hey Paul, Rory" Luke responded.

"I'm really sorry you drove all the way here, but it looks like dinner isn't happening." Rory explained.

"Grandma locked herself back in her bedroom." Rory sighed. "I've been trying for the last half an hour to get her out."

"It's ok honey. Let me try" Lorelai said, heading toward the stairs.

"Oh, Rory. Before I forget, here's your mail." Luke grabbed a stack of envelopes out of his jacket pocket and handed them to Rory.

"Thanks" Rory said, taking the envelopes and putting them in her purse.

Forty minutes later, Lorelai came back downstairs. "It's no use, she won't come out. You guys may as well start heading back to the city." she said.

"Maybe we should stay the weekend, and head back on Sunday." Rory said, looking at Paul.

"No hun, you need to get back, you've been here for the last three weeks. Let Luke and I help out." Lorelai said.

"Are you sure?" Rory asked.

"Yes. Don't worry about it. We've got this." Lorelai said, hugging her daughter.

"Ok, well, let's go I guess." Rory said looking at Paul again.

He nodded and went to grab their suitcases.

"Mom, Luke. If you need anything, I'm only a call away." Rory said starting to tear up.

"It's gonna be fine hun. Head back, enjoy your party tomorrow night." Lorelai said giving her another hug and a kiss on her temple.

Heading back to New York was going to be tough, but her mother was right, Rory needed to get back into her routine.

The drive back to New York was a quiet one, neither had much to say. It had been a stressful few weeks, it wasn't long before Rory had fallen asleep in the passenger seat.

"Rory, honey… Wake up." Paul gently nudged her. "We're home."

Rory opened her eyes, still groggy.

"You head on upstairs, I'll get our bags." Paul told her.

"Thanks." Rory smiled.

Heading up to the apartment, she reached into her purse to grab her key. After everything that happened, she hadn't had time to think about getting her own apartment, and with everything that Paul had done for her, she felt she owed it to him to give the living together thing a try.

Remembering that she had mail in her purse, she went and sat down on the couch and began to open it. Mainly credit card bills, and junk mail, Rory was quickly bored with this task.

"Honey, I'm going to throw our bags in the office, we can unpack tomorrow. It's getting late." she heard Paul shout as he walked down the hall.

The next envelope had her puzzled, it was small, much smaller than a bill. She flipped it over, no return address. Her curiosity peaked, she opened it.

Inside was a small piece of cardstock, and what was on it took her breath away. Before she had even read it, she knew who it was from. She would recognize that familiar scrawl anywhere.

"Hey, Rory. What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." Paul said as he walked back in the room.

"Oh, it's nothing. Really." Rory said, forcing a smile onto her face, gripping the card quite tightly.

"What's that you've got?" he asked.

"It's just a condolence card from an old friend." Rory told him, her cheeks flushing.

Paul reached for it. "That's sweet. What does it say?"

Taking the card from her hands, Paul looked down and read the note.

 _So sorry for your loss, Ace._

"Ace? Who's Ace?" Paul asked.

"I'm Ace. It's an old nickname from my college days." Rory said.

"Well, there's no name signed. Who's it from?" Paul asked.

"Oh, not sure. Must just be an old friend from Yale." Rory fibbed.

"Look, I'm beat. I really think I need to get to bed." Rory told him, getting up and walking toward the bedroom, not really wanting to discuss the card any further.

As she was getting ready for bed, she had to fight off the urge to cry. When Paul found her, she told him it was just residual tears from the last few weeks, but deep down, she wasn't sure if that was actually true.

* * *

Rory looked at the clock and sighed. "Paul, we were supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago! Hurry up!" she shouted into the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble with this bowtie." He shouted back out to her.

Rory sighed again, and walked into the bedroom. "Come here" she said.

Quickly tying his bowtie, and smoothing out his collar she smiled. "Ok, ready? Let's go."

"Wait" he grabbed her by the wrist. "Have I told you yet, just how beautiful you look in that dress? Wow."

Rory smiled. She was particularly happy with her outfit for this evening. Floor length, and strappy, the majority of her back exposed, and in such a brilliant royal blue. It was just the right touch of fun, and elegant. She took one last look in the mirror, fixed her curls, and thanked her boyfriend, and attempted to hurry him out the door.

Hailing a cab, Rory gave the driver the address, but soon found themselves stuck in traffic. By the time they arrived to the hotel ballroom, they were almost an hour late. Rushing in, Rory was dragging Paul behind her when she suddenly stopped.

She stopped so quickly that Paul crashed right into her.

"Rory, what's the matter?" Paul asked.

"N… Nothing." Rory turned around and smiled at him.

Meanwhile, the wheels in her head were turning, first receiving a card from him just yesterday, and now looking across the ballroom she saw a familiar tuft of blonde hair. She shook her head. There was no way this was a coincidence.

"Come on, let's go get a drink and I'll introduce you to Jim." Rory smiled.

Rory set off to the bar like a bat out of hell. "A martini with a twist for me, strong." she said, "and for him…" she trailed off, not entirely sure what Paul would like to drink.

"A rum and coke" Paul told the bartender.

As soon as Rory received her drink, she downed it in one gulp. "I'll have another please." Rory said setting down her first glass.

Paul looked at Rory quizzically, but shrugged.

After receiving her second martini she pointed across the crowd and began to drag Paul across the room. "Look there's Jim. Let's go say hi."

Paul gave her another look, almost as if she was acting like a crazy lady.

"Jim! Hi!" Rory said.

"Rory! Hey! How are you holding up?" Jim asked.

"I'm ok, it's been pretty tough, I had to take the lead on a lot of things, neither my mother or grandmother were in a place to be making any decisions." She said.

"Losing someone is never easy. They say time heals…" Jim said.

"I hope you're right." Rory said.

"Oh! Where are my manners! Jim, this is my boyfriend Paul. He was the one who called you when everything happened." Rory told him.

"Yes, of course. Paul, it's nice to meet you." Jim said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Likewise, and I want to thank you for hiring my girl. It's going to nice to be in the same city for once." Paul told him.

"So Jim, now that it's official, what company bought the magazine? I feel like I've been so out of the loop." Rory told him.

"Ah, wait a second." Jim took off.

Rory felt her heart sink as she saw Jim returning, with a familiar face in tow.

"Rory, I'd like you to meet…" Jim started.

"Logan Huntzberger." Rory said, plastering a smile on her face.

Logan looked like a deer in the headlights.

"You know each other?" Jim asked.

"We met back at Yale." Rory said quickly.

"Ah! Yes! I should have known." Jim said.

"Logan, it's good to see you." Rory said rather awkwardly. "Oh, this is Paul by the way. Paul, Logan." she told him as an afterthought, though she paused, not knowing the name of Logan's companion to introduce herself too.

"It's good to see you too Ace."

Inwardly, Rory felt a brief blip of excitement, he called her Ace.

Paul's eyes however, darkened.

"Paul, nice to meet you. This is Kimmy." Logan said, reaching out to shake Paul's hand.

"Actually, it's Kelly." the woman rolled her eyes but reached out to shake Rory's hand.

"You'll have to excuse us, I was just on my way to get us drinks when Jim told me I had to come meet his all star new managing editor." Logan smirked, and excused himself from the conversation.

When it was just Paul, Jim and Rory, she asked "So we were bought by Huntzberger Publishing Group?" Rory asked starting to feel faint.

"No, on the contrary. Logan is a partner in a tech company based out of California. They have been expanding their assets, and they decided to jump into the magazine business. They plan on moving us to a print and digital magazine." Jim told her.

Rory felt a sigh of relief, Logan was still based out of California. They would be involved in the same company, but at least they would still be on opposite coasts.

"It's so great that you know Logan already!' Jim told her. "That's going to make the transition so much easier, with him taking the office next to mine.'

Rory felt like she was going to be sick. Seriously, how could this happen. Of all the publications, in all the world. After eight years, he was back in her life.

Rory faked a smile, "Yes, that is great! Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to run to the little girls room."

During the walk to the washroom, Rory fought off the familiar sting of tears.

Standing over the sink, Rory she continued to try and fight off the coming panic attack. She could do this. They were grown adults. Sure, they parted on horrible terms, but that was so long ago. She had no choice, she was just starting this job, she had been so excited about this job.

Just then, a horrible thought entered her mind. She didn't deserve this job, Logan must have told them to hire her. She felt sick. She needed to head home. She was sure, given everything that happened lately, everyone would understand.

Rushing out of the bathroom to find Paul, she heard a familiar voice call her name.

Slowing to a stop, she turned around to find herself face to face with Logan.

She couldn't do this. Not now.

"How are you doing?" Logan asked.

"Oh great. Just great." Rory said sarcastically.

"Rory, I'm so sorry." He told her.

"Logan, how could you!" Rory hissed.

"How could I, what?" Logan asked puzzled.

"Have Jim hire me! Put me... us in this... Situation." Rory said.

"Look Rory, I didn't know Jim hired you. I wasn't involved in the company at all until all the papers were signed yesterday. I knew he hired a new managing editor, but all he mentioned was that they had a family emergency." Logan told her.

Looking at Logan, she could tell he was telling the truth.

"Then why were you apologising?" Rory asked.

"Your grandfather. You two were so close." Logan said, his voice almost at a whisper.

"Oh. Right." Rory said blushing.

"Look Rory, I really had no idea, you have to know that." Logan pressed.

"I wasn't lying though, it took me by surprise, but it's good to see you." He told her.

"Logan" Rory sighed. "How is this going to work?" she asked.

"My boss's boss is my ex-boyfriend. If the people in the office find out, I'm never going to hear the end of it." Rory sighed.

"Rory, that is none of their business." Logan told her earnestly.

"Look Logan, we are going to need to discuss… This… but now's not the time. I need to get back to Paul." she told him.

"Forget Paul, let's go talk now." Logan grinned at her.

"Logan, I can't just leave my boyfriend here and run off with you. Plus, where's that date of yours? Kimmy? Kelly? Whatever her name is?" Rory said.

Logan's eyes darkened a little at the mention of the fact Paul was her boyfriend.

"Look, we'll talk soon ok." Rory said, turning and walking away.

Quickly finding Paul in the ballroom, Rory grabbed his hand. "Look, I know I wanted to come tonight, but I think I'm ready to go home. It's been a long few weeks, and I'm still wiped." she said with a sad smile.

* * *

The cab ride home was spent in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Once they were back in the apartment however, Paul decided to break the silence in a major way.

"Rory, what's going on? You were acting weird tonight." Paul said.

"Weird, really?" Rory said trying to play it off. "I'm still having a little bit of trouble focusing, getting back into the swing of things." she said, trying to play it off as nothing.

"I really don't think that's the case." he said.

"You started acting weird last night, with that condolence card, then tonight, as soon as you arrived at the party you started acting strange again, almost anxious. Then, we meet your new boss, who you already know, and he calls you Ace. The same thing that was on the card last were pretty insistent that we leave pretty soon after that. What aren't you telling me?" Paul asked.

Rory sighed, there was no point in keeping this a secret.

"Look, you're right. Ok? The whole thing has just kind of thrown me for a loop." Rory said.

"Why?" he pressed her to continue.

"Look, to make a long story short, we dated. Ok? Happy?" Rory told him.

"How serious were you?" he asked.

"It was a really long time ago."

"How serious were you?" he asked again, more firmly.

Rory took a deep breath.

"He proposed to me at my Yale graduation party." Rory said feeling sick.

"RORY! How could you never tell me about this?" Paul blew up.

"I turned him down." Rory said meekly. "I wasn't ready to get married. It was eight years ago."

"Rory, why would you keep this a secret?" Paul asked.

"Look, it's been so long, I didn't see the point." Rory told him.

"And now he's going to be your boss?" Paul said, still on edge.

"Actually, he's going to be my boss's, boss." she corrected him.

"I don't like this Rory." Paul told her.

"Paul, really. It's not a big deal, it'll be a little awkward for awhile, but that's just the way it's going to be. I report to Jim, not Logan, it'll be fine."

"Fine? You're ex-boyfriend hired you!" Paul shouted.

"Actually, Jim hired me. Logan had no idea. I asked him that tonight myself." Rory said trying to remain calm.

"So while you were off in the washroom, you were actually off talking to your ex?" Paul scowled.

"No, actually, I was off in the washroom. He just so happened to spot me when I was on my way back to find you."

"Just so happened." Paul retorted.

"Whatever Paul. Stop being so possessive. I'm here, with you aren't I? I'm your girlfriend. Not his. That ship sailed, a long time ago." Rory snapped back.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight." Paul said curtly, and walked into the bedroom and shut the door.

Rory sighed and plunked down on the couch. What a mess, she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Rory wasn't sure what was worse. Spending the remainder of the weekend in relative silence with her boyfriend, or going into work, where she would have to see her ex-boyfriend. To be completely honest, neither option sounded desireable.

Paul, sweet Paul. He had been there for her these last few weeks, and for that she was eternally grateful. The last day and a half however, he was being an unreasonable bastard. She couldn't for the life of her understand why, other than maybe jealousy. Not that he had anything to be jealous of, that ship had sailed, that chapter of her life ended eight years ago.

And Logan, wow. It had taken her so long to get over Logan. There were so many nights on the campaign trail that Rory had cried herself to sleep. So many nights she started to dial his number, tell him she was wrong, beg him to take her back, to start again, but she couldn't bring herself to call, not out of stubbornness at the way he gave her the all or nothing ultimatum, but out of fear that he would close the figurative door in her face. With time, these feelings subsided, but seeing Logan on Saturday night, the anxiety started clawing its way back into her.

She sighed, maybe Paul did have a right to be jealous. This was Logan after all, her ex-boyfriend, her former partner-in-crime, the great love of her life. The great love that she had never bothered to mention, and now they would be working together, seeing each other every day, and that anxiety came flaring back up. Like many great loves, it burned bright, but quick, ending too soon. That was so long ago now, they had both moved on. She was with Paul, she loved Paul, he was so sweet, caring, he was good for her. She knew she needed to tell Paul this, apologise for the way things went, they could get past this. They would get past this.

Climbing from the bed in the guest room, she sighed. These were a lot of heavy thoughts for first thing in the morning. Quickly getting ready, she ran a comb through her hair, a quick swipe of lipgloss, and she was ready to go.

Swinging by a coffee shop around the corner from her office, she ordered two coffees. She was sure that today was going to qualify as one of those days she had an extreme need for caffeine, even more than usual. Turning to head out of the store she bumped into a figure, nearly dropping her coffee cups.

"Ooh… Sorry!" Rory said, looking up and realizing that it was Logan she bumped into.

Blushing she said "Logan, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

"Hey, no trouble at all Ace." Logan grinned. "I'd say this would be a cute meet, if we didn't already know each other."

"Logan" she scowled. "We can't do this. We need to work together."

"Hey, Ace. I'm just trying to be friendly." Logan looked at her seriously.

"Logan, look. Let's just try to make this as un-awkward as possible. Please." Rory said, pleading.

"Ok, as un-awkward as possible." Logan smiled.

Rory nodded. "Great."

"Now, if you'll excuse me Ace, I need to get myself some coffee." Logan said.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Rory smiled. "I guess I'll see you in the office."

Rory took a deep breath as she stepped out of the coffee shop. This was going to be harder than she thought.

* * *

Her first morning at The Current was a busy one, she had spent the majority of it in meetings with Jim, and the writing staff. There was a great deal of information to cover, and Rory felt like she was being buried under a mountain of information. It was going to take her awhile to get into the swing of things, the learning curve here was going to be steep.

By the time lunch rolled around, she decided it was time for her to get some fresh air. Heading to the elevator, she pressed the button and waited for the elevator to arrive. When the doors opened, she realized that there was Logan, standing inside the elevator.

She paused for a moment, taking a breath before stepping into the elevator.

"Hey" Rory said.

"Hey. How's your first day going?" Logan asked her.

"It's good. It's a lot of information, but I think I'm going to like it." Rory said with a slight smile.

They lapsed into an awkward silence, which continued for the remaining 20 floors to the lobby.

"Well, have a good lunch Ace." Logan said.

"You too" Rory responded as she followed Logan out of the elevator into the lobby.

Forget lunch, she thought. I need to talk to my mother. Rory sighed and walked a few blocks away from her office, to try and find a quiet place to call her mother.

Dialing the number, she took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

"Rory! Hey! How is day one?" Lorelai asked.

"Ughhhhh." Rory responded.

"Oh, hun. What's the matter?" Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Mom, you're never going to believe this." Rory said sounding despondent.

"Ohh, should I make some popcorn before we continue?" Lorelai joked.

"Mom, seriously. This is worst case scenario, end of the world as we know it, the asteroid is hurtling toward earth and Ben Affleck has failed at stopping it, kind of problems." Rory rambled.

"Rory, calm down. It can't be that bad." Lorelai responded.

""Mom, think of worst case scenario, and multiply it by 100." Rory told her.

"So you fell flat on your face, and accidentally showed the entire office your granny panties because all your nice underwear was in the wash?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom, I honestly wish that was what happened. This is way more awkward. Way worse." Rory sighed.

"Ok honey, tell mommy what the matter is."

"Ok." Rory took a breath and then continued.

"This story actually starts back on Friday night, after we got back to New York. I was going through the mail that Luke brought to Grandma's for me. There was a random condolence card, it wasn't signed, but I could easily tell it was from Logan." Rory explained.

"Wait, how do you know it was from Logan?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, first, I recognized his handwriting, and second, the card was addressed to Ace." Rory continued.

"Ah. Well I don't see what this has to do with with." Lorelai said.

"I'm getting there. Hold on" Rory told her mother.

"Anyway, I shook the whole thing off, and continued about my business. Which brings me to Saturday night." Rory started.

"Go on." Lorelai responded.

"Ok. Mom, seriously, I need to get this out, can you please just listen for a few minutes." Rory chastised her mother.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Finish your story." Lorelai told her.

"Ok, so, Paul and I arrive at the merger party, and who's there but Logan freaking Huntzberger. It turns out his company was the one who bought the magazine." Rory said in one breath.

"So, you're working for for Huntzberger Publishing Group?" Lorelai asked.

"No, mom. That's the thing. The company that Logan moved out to California for bought the magazine. I ended up getting put on the spot, and had to introduce Paul to Logan, and Logan was clearly flustered too, he introduced his date with the wrong name." Rory continued.

"So he's back to his old playboy ways." Lorelai said, with a hint of disdain in her voice.

"Mom. That's beside the point. Anyway, the story continues. First, I excuse myself to get my bearings for a minute, and end up getting cornered by Logan. I accused him of hiring me, and putting us in that totally awkward situation. He was adamant that, he had no idea I was hired by the magazine. Then he tried to convince me to take off to talk the whole thing over. I needed to get out of there, so I told Paul I wasn't feeling up to staying at the party and needed to go home."

"Oh dear. That does sound awkward." Lorelai said.

"Yeah, so then, we get home, and to be honest we were both pretty quiet the entire drive back to the apartment, and then Paul, who at this point suspected something was up, started demanding answers from me. He had put two and two together, from the condolence the card the night before, and the fact he called me Ace at the party." Rory continued.

"So then the whole truth came spilling out. I told him how I knew Logan, that we dated, and that he had proposed to me and I said no. Mom, Paul was so mad at me, he didn't speak to me for the rest of the weekend. I'm still getting the silent treatment" Rory sighed.

"Oh honey. What a mess. But I have to know, why didn't you tell Paul about Logan before?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know mom. I really don't. It was just so long ago, I didn't feel the need." Rory said, sounding even more down in the dumps than before.

"Well, it is what it is I guess. So that brought us to Saturday, now what's going on?"

"Well, it turns out that Logan is relocating to New York, and working on the thirtieth floor of my office building."

"Oh. dear." Lorelai replied.

"Yeah, so this morning I was getting coffee before work, and I bumped into Logan in the coffee shop. Then again at the beginning of lunch I had to ride 28 floors down in the elevator with him. Mom it was so awkward. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"About Paul?" "Lorelai asked. "I'm sure he'll calm down in a few days.

"No, not about Paul, why would you think this is about Paul?"

"I don't know, maybe because he's your boyfriend and he's currently mad at you?"

"No mom, Logan. What do I do about Logan?"

"Rory, I have a serious question for you. Do you still have feelings for Logan?"

"No mom" Rory said quickly, practically cutting her mother off.

"Rory… Are you sure?" Lorelai prompted.

"No. Mom. That ship has sailed." Rory said, not realising it was a bit of a freudian slip, with the fact she first said No. Lorelai however, picked up on it, but for now decided to let it be.

"Well, Rory. I think the best thing for you to do is to sit down and have a chat with Logan, try to get the awkwardness behind you. That, or maybe it's time to move to Tibet." Lorelai joked.

"Mom!" Rory whined.

"Seriously, hun. Just talk to him. Lay all your cards out on the table. You are happily in a relationship, this is strictly professional." Lorelai advised her.

"Ok. I guess you're right." Rory said, sounding dejected.

"Honey, mommy is always right. You should know that by now." Lorelai responded, prompting a slight chuckle from Rory.

"Well, I guess I should go. Call soon? Rory asked.

"Always." Lorelai responded, before Rory hung up.

Sighing, she knew her mother was right. She needed to have a chat with Logan, and soon.

* * *

The remainder of the afternoon flew by, and before Rory knew it it was 6pm. The office had been thinning out, and only a few people remained. Jim had stopped in about half an hour prior, letting her know he was heading home, and suggested that she not stay too late herself.

Looking at her computer screen one last time, she decided that now was as good a time as ever, and shut down the computer, heading to the elevator bank.

Pushing the up button instead of the down, she felt her nerves kicking into overdrive, once again, she felt anxiety beginning to rise. She shook her head, knowing that she had to get over this.

Stepping into the elevator, she rode the two floors up to where Logan's office was located, hoping he would still be there.

Unfortunately, for Rory, there was no sign of life on the floor, everyone had gone home for the evening.

Sighing, she walked back to the elevator, and rode down to the lobby, stepping out onto the sidewalk, and hailing a cab to head home.

Arriving, about 40 minutes later, she unlocked the apartment door and sighed. Paul was home, but once again didn't greet her.

"Paul! Hi" Rory shouted, only to be answered by silence.

Feeling frustrated, she decided it was time to end this foolishness now.

Marching into the living room where Paul was sitting on the couch surfing on his iPad, Rory stood right in front of him with her arms crossed.

"HEY" Rory said, raising her voice slightly.

Paul continued to ignore her

"HEY" Rory said again, raising her voice a little more.

Still being ignored, she started to get really frustrated.

"Would you stop acting like a child and acknowledge me?" Rory said, sounding cross.

"What would you like me to say?" Paul said sounding equally as cranky.

"Perhaps we could start with the fact you've been giving me the silent treatment since Saturday?" Rory said.

"Perhaps we could start with the fact you lied to me." Paul responded.

"Lied to you? When did I lie to you?" Rory asked sounding incredulous.

"I don't know, maybe when you didn't bother to tell me you would be working with your ex boyfriend, that you conveniently never told me about. Or the fact that he's a part of the Huntzberger dynasty? For Christ sakes Rory, his dad bought my paper last year!" Paul shouted.

"Ok first of all, I didn't lie to you. I didn't know that Logan would be working at the Current. Second, I didn't ever bring him up because he's old news. We've been broken up almost three times longer than we even dated. Up until Saturday, I hadn't spoken to him since my graduation day. We broke up then, it's over, it's been over for a long time. No regrets." She told him, trying to reassure him, though something about her last sentence nagged at her, she did have some regrets, mostly that they parted on such awful terms.

"Rory, how can I compete with a Huntzberger? They are media royalty. You went from nearly being the future queen of the biggest media dynasty in America, to Joe Nobody." Paul said, sounding sad.

"Paul. It's not like that. To be honest? I hated the Huntzbergers, they treated me terribly. Mitchum, was the catalyst that led me to committing a felony." Rory said trying to convince him that this was a non issue.

"Wait, I don't know what to be more surprised about, the fact that you are on a first name basis with Mitchum Huntzberger, or the fact that apparently you committed a felony?" Rory I feel like I barely know you, is there anything else I should know?" Paul asked angrily.

"Ok, first, Mitchum is pretty much the spawn of Satan. Second, my record was expunged." Rory responded.

"Ok, Rory, I need to know more info than that." Paul said rubbing his eyes.

"Ok, so. This goes back a few months before the incident. Basically what happened was when Logan and I first started dating, he took me over to his parents house for dinner. It went about as bad as it possibly could, his mom and grandfather raked me over the coals, saying that I wasn't good enough to be involved with Logan, that I wasn't cut out for the Huntzberger lifestyle. Logan got furious, told them off, and we stormed out before dinner even started. As we were leaving, Mitchum was just arriving at home. Later, in an effort to smooth things over, Mitchum offered me an unpaid internship."

"Wow, that's horrible Rory, but at least Mitchum seemed to like you." Paul responded sounding a bit jealous.

Rory scoffed. "So the months go by, and the internship is coming to an end. Mitchum pulls me into the boardroom, to talk to me about my performance. He tells me, I don't have it! I don't have what it takes to make a good journalist!" Rory said sounding frustrated at the memory.

"What the hell is wrong with that man?" Paul asked her.

Rory shrugged, "It's the Huntzberger way."

"So anyway, that very same day, was Logan's sister's engagement party. At the yacht club. Needless to say, I was having a pretty awful day, and was feeling reckless. I told Logan I basically just wanted to take off and go, on a yacht. Logan tried to stop me, but in the end, decided that it was better to come with me. Well, we borrowed a yacht, and took off, and we got caught."

"What?" Paul asked sounding incredulous. "Rory! How could you be so careless?"

"Look, Paul. I made a huge mistake that day. But, 300 hours of community service later, and with good behaviour, I was eventually able to get my record expunged. It's like it never happened." Rory explained.

"Only it did. With Logan Huntzberger, your boss." Paul responded.

"Paul, again. He's not my boss. He's my boss's boss, and frankly, other than seeing him at work from time to time, that's the only time I'm going to encounter him. Now, why don't we grab our coats and go grab dinner." Rory smiled looking hopeful.

"Ok, let's go." Paul smiled back, putting his iPad on the coffee table, and went to grab his jacket.

Rory breathed a sigh of relief, and got ready to go out.

* * *

The next morning, Rory left for work extra early, trying to follow her mother's advice.

There was no one in Logan's office when she arrived, but she sat down and waited, she needed to get this taken care of as soon as possible.

She didn't need to wait long, Logan rolled in about 10 minutes later.

"Hey Rory! Good morning! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Logan asked, smiling.

"We need to talk." Rory said, sounding serious.

"Oh, ok. Whats going on?" Logan asked.

"Logan, this situation is awkward. You, me, the fact that you are my boss's boss. God, this is awkward. We parted on such terrible terms, and here you are, eight years later, acting like nothing terrible ever happened." Rory told him.

"Rory, to be honest, it took a long time to come to terms with what happened between us, but when I saw you in that ballroom last weekend, knowing we were going to be working together, I knew I didn't want to make this place awkward for you. We both need to work here." Logan told her.

"I appreciate that. Thank-you." Rory responded curtly

"But?" Logan asked, knowing her as well as he did.

"But. To make things easier, I think we need to keep this purely professional. No one needs to know about our past. We are simply co-workers." Rory said.

"If that's what you want." Logan said, looking a little sad.

Rory ignored the body language he was giving off "Yeah, Logan I really think it's for the best."

"Ok then. Have a good day Rory." Logan said curtly.

"You too… and Logan? Thanks." Rory told him, standing and walking out of his office.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much for your feedback everyone! I really love hearing what you think. This chapter has a bit of a time jump. I hope you enjoy! Please remember to let me know what you think!

 _Six months later_

The last six months had been status quo for Rory in both her professional and personal lives.

Everything had been running smoothly, since she and Paul had had a heart to heart, and life had been great. They were in a good place, and were getting along well.

As for work, she had fallen into a nice rhythm on her editing responsibilities, and had truly felt like she had become part of the team. She was so glad that she had stepped away from her work as a writer, and into a role as an editor, it really felt like it was her true calling. It also didn't hurt that from time to time she was able to add an article to the magazine, it really was the best of both worlds, and she was really appreciating the opportunities she was given through the magazine.

Her relationship with Logan had stuck to the purely professional, like two co-workers who had never met prior to this job. They would say hello in the elevator, or if they passed in the hall, but they often didn't say much to each other if it wasn't work related.

Rory often found Jim and Logan down on the 28th floor, jumping in and getting involved with both the writing and editing process. They both, along with Rory often acted as sounding boards for each other, and their writing staff. The whole team had a good dynamic, and the Current was seeing a huge increase in revenue since they launched the online version of the magazine. That was why on this particular April day, tempers were running so high.

The weather had been atrocious, it was raining harder than Rory had ever seen since she had moved to New York. Thunder and lightning and been rolling and flashing since four that morning, when Rory rolled into the office at 7:30, she was soaked. As she was waiting for her computer to turn on the lights in her office went out, and she heard the familiar sound of all electronics shutting down.

Sighing, she pushed back from her desk, and walked out into the open office space where the writer's work. Surveying the office, Rory was thankful that most people hadn't arrived to work yet. She did hope that this power outage would be short lived, the May issue of the magazine was due to the printers by 5.

As people arrived in the office huffing and puffing after having walked up 28 flights of stairs due to the power outage, they noticed Rory pacing back and forth throughout the office. She was beginning to get worried, the power had flickered a few times, but had stayed off.

By the time 9am rolled around the power was still off, and Rory was nearly reaching panic mode. Both Logan and Jim were trying to get Rory to calm down, they still had plenty of time before 5, but there was still so much left that she wanted to review before they sent the magazine in for the month. There was so much content that they should have posted in the daily section of their website. The only thing they had been able to do was send out a few tweets.

At 9:13 the power flicked back on and seemed to stay on. Unfortunately, there was a crackling sound and a flash that came from the server room.

Rory took one look in that direction and went running toward the servers.

Running into the server room, she was quickly followed by Jim and Logan. Skidding to a stop, she could see smoke coming out of the server. This was not good.

"This is bad. Very. Very. Bad." Rory stammered.

"Someone get their computer turned on." Jim shouted out into the office area.

"We need to check the server!" he continued.

Walking back out into the office area Rory shouted "We need a status report!"

One of the writers shouted. "My article is gone. It looks like everything else is too."

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." Rory muttered.

"The magazine needs to be to the printers in eight hours." Rory whispered to herself.

"It's ok. We've got this." Logan said, putting a smile on his face.

"Everyone, come here, we need a quick meeting." Logan shouted so that everyone in the office could hear him.

"Ok. We are in a precarious situation here. The magazine needs to go to the printers at five but the server fried and we lost everything. Did anyone have any backups of their articles saved anywhere?"

A few hands went up.

"Ok good. You guys, first priority is to go back, make sure the article is good to go, once it's done email it to me. I'll put it on my personal cloud. We will use that as our layout building space for now. Once those are sent, I need you guys to help everyone else get their articles re-done. If you lost your data, see if there's anything else we could use instead. This is going to be an all hands on deck kind of day. But I really want to assure you that all hope is not lost, we can in fact do this. I know it seems like an impossible task, but we can do this." Logan looked at Rory and smiled.

"Some of you know that Rory and I worked together on the Yale Daily News many years ago, and we once found ourselves in a situation very similar to this. The whole newsroom pitched in, and we were able to roll out the paper on time, though it may have taken a little sweet talking on my part to the printing house. The moral of this story though is this is something we can do. Something we will do. We've got this. Ok people! Let's get going." Logan finished his rallying cry and everyone went running to their workstations to get to work.

Logan stood, in between Rory and Jim and smiled.

"Logan" Rory whispered so that only Jim and Logan could hear.

"This is a much bigger a job than the emergency session we had at the Yale Daily News. I really don't think we can meet our deadline." Rory said, concerned.

"Ace, have a little faith, we can get this done." Logan told her, causing Rory to blush. It was the first time he had called her Ace in six months.

"Ok, well, let's jump in and see what we can do then." Rory said, trying to mask her surprise at the fact Logan had called her by her pet name.

Several hours had passed and Logan disappeared about half an hour ago. Rory heard the elevator ding, and looked to see Logan coming out with copious bags of take out.

"Ok people" Logan shouted. "Lunch is here! When you get a chance, come grab something, but we need to get right back into it.

By 2:30 there was enough content sent to Logan's cloud that he, Jim and Rory were able to start work on populating the layout for the magazine. The three of them were so wrapped up in what was going on, it was soon 4:55 and they weren't quite ready to send the layout in.

"Let me go call the printer's." Rory told them.

"I'll tell them we have a power outage and ask if we can get an extension. I think an hour will do it?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, an hour sounds good Rory." Jim told her.

Five minutes later, Rory returned, with a smile. "We've got the hour, let's get this done."

It turned out that they didn't need the full hour, at 5:40 they were able to submit magazine.

Everyone was celebrating, they couldn't believe that they had pulled this off. It was definitely a day in the office to remember, one they would be telling people about for years to come. Everyone was shaking hands, patting each other on the back and hugging.

Caught up in the excitement, before she even realized what she was doing, gave Logan a hug, holding on for probably a second longer than she should have, she pulled back abruptly, blushing.

"Hey Rory" Jim said. Breaking her out of her daze.

"I'm going to head out with a bunch of the staff for celebratory drinks. You should come." he told her.

Rory happened to glance over at Logan, whom she saw picking up one of the remaining take out containers and heading toward the elevators.

"You know what Jim, go on without me. It's been a long day. I think I'm going to call it a night." Rory smiled.

She went to her office, grabbed her coat and was getting ready to head home. Passing the last little bit of the takeout, she thought for a moment, and grabbed the remaining containers and decided to head to the thirtieth floor.

She could see that the light in Logan's office was still on. As she approached she knocked gently on his door.

"Mind if I come in?" she asked.

"Sure. Rory." Logan said, but he didn't look up at her.

"Look, Logan. I'm really sorry about earlier. I really didn't mean to make things awkward." Rory told him.

"I see." Logan said to her.

"Logan, talk to me. What's the matter?" Rory asked.

"Nothings the matter Rory, I just didn't realize my life concerned you. We're just co-workers after all." Logan replied.

"Logan, don't be like that." Rory said.

"What do you mean Rory, this is exactly how you wanted me to be. Co-workers. Nothing more. I tried putting the past behind us six months ago, and tried to be friendly with you and you shut me down. This is what you wanted." Logan said.

"Now, if you don't mind. I have some emails I need to catch up on."

"I guess I'll leave then. I just thought…" Rory trailed off.

"You just thought what Rory? That we could just forget things for one day, then go back to being two ships passing silently in the night? I'm sorry Rory, but I can't just do that. We either need to be co-workers, or friends, but I can't go back and forth." Logan told her.

Pausing to bite her lip, Rory finally spoke. "Well maybe we should be friends then." Rory smiled, and Logan looked up at her for the first time.

"Now, I've got these leftovers from lunch. Why don't we dig in?" Rory asked.

Logan made a bit of a face, which Rory took to be a bad sign.

"Well I guess I'll just go then." Rory said.

"I don't really think we should be eating that. I tried already, it's been sitting out all afternoon, it should have probably been in the fridge. Why don't we go grab food elsewhere instead?" Logan asked causing Rory to smile.

Twenty minutes later, Rory and Logan found themselves being seated at a small bistro uptown. Settling into their booth they both perused the menus quickly settling on their dinner choices.

"Today was pretty crazy." Rory commented.

"It was, it reminded me a lot of our college days." Logan said with a hint of melancholy, causing a pause in the conversation.

"So, friend. How've you been?" Rory asked in an effort to break the silence.

"I've been good." Logan laughed, pushing the slight hint of sadness from his eyes. "And you?"

"I've been good too." Rory responded.

"How's your boyfriend doing? I'm sorry, I can't remember his name." Logan asked.

"Paul. He's good I guess. We don't see each other as much as we should considering we live together, but we both have busy jobs. He's a photographer for the Daily News. Overall though, we're good." Rory smiled.

"That's good." Logan smiled, as the two fell into another awkward silence.

"This is kind of awkward, isn't it?" Rory asked, being honest a few minutes later.

"Yeah, just a little." Logan agreed.

"Why don't we just lay everything out on the table, our lives for the last eight years, maybe that will help get rid of the elephant in the room." Rory told him as their meals arrived.

They soon settled into a conversation, that as time passed was becoming less and less awkward.

They eventually fell into a banter similar to that from years ago, debating about the democratic nomination. Rory, understandably was pro Hillary, while Logan thought Bernie was the best person for the job.

Rory's attention was momentarily broken by the buzzing of her cell phone. A text message had come in from Paul.

 _Where are you?_

Rory looked at the time.

"Oh my god. Logan it's 11:15. I need to get going." Rory said in a panic reaching for her wallet.

"Rory, don't worry about it. I've got this. You go home." Logan told her.

"Thanks Logan! I owe you one." Rory told him as she hopped out of the booth and put her coat on.

"I'll see you tomorrow Logan." Rory smiled.

"See you tomorrow, Ace."

* * *

Rory barely had the chance to stick her key in the lock of her apartment door, when Paul opened it.

"Rory! I've been so worried! What happened to you?" Paul asked.

"I know, I'm sorry. I lost track of time." Rory told him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The power went out in the office this morning, and it fried the server. We lost everything, the magazine layout was due to the printers at five."

"Oh my god Rory, that's awful. What did you do?" Paul told her.

"It was a stressful day, I'm not going to lie, but fortunately Logan and I have some experience in this, on a smaller scale anyway. One time when we were working on the Yale Daily News, Paris had a meltdown and the majority of the staff quit. I tried to take over to make sure the paper got out, I tried to pull in all the big guns, and Logan stepped in and helped, he was actually our saving grace that day. Today, he stepped back into that role, and rallied the entire office into a frenzy. It was cutting it close, we had to call the printers and fib saying that the power was out and we couldn't send it to them to get us an extension. It worked, we got the extension we needed and we managed to get the magazine sent out just in time."

"Wow it sounds like Logan really saved the day." Paul said.

"He really did." Rory gushed, causing Paul to frown slightly, but Rory was too wound up from her day to notice.

"Anyway, afterward the staff was planning on going out for celebratory drinks, I was planning on just coming home, but I saw that Logan had separated himself from the group, so I went to see if he was ok. We chatted for awhile, and decided we would grab some dinner and catch up on each other's lives. We really haven't had a chance to talk other than about work stuff, at all. It seemed like a good way to blow off some steam after such a crazy day. I'm sorry I'm so late getting home. We lost track of time.

Paul looked visibly upset now.

"Rory, I don't like you socializing with him like that. It's not fair to me. To us." Paul told her.

"What do you mean it's not fair, Paul." Rory asked.

"Don't be so blind Rory, the guy clearly still has feelings for you. He's going to try to weasel his way back into your life bit by bit, to try to win you back." Paul said.

"Paul, don't be crazy, Logan doesn't have feelings for me, we are co-workers, maybe even friends, but that's it." Rory tried to tell him.

"Rory, get a clue. Guys don't just become friends with their exes unless they want them back." Paul told her sounding exasperated.

"Maybe that's how you do things, but frankly, here's a news flash, not everyone's like you. Logan and I were friends before we dated, it's been long enough that we can fall back on that, no feelings, I can assure you." Rory said.

"Yeah, right. I highly doubt that." Paul replied.

"Seriously Paul, I don't know why you have such a problem with Logan." Rory commented.

"Maybe because he's a Huntzberger, you dated him for three years, and he wanted to marry you. He's rich, he can give you so many things that I can't, if he tries to fight for you, that's a battle I'm eventually going to lose." Paul told her.

"Paul, you're forgetting one thing here. It's you I'm sitting across from right now, not him. I may have had dinner with him tonight, but it's you I came home to, it's you that I love. Not him." Rory said, sounding firm.

Rory leaned in and gave Paul a quick kiss.

"Now that that's settled, let's head to bed. It's been a long day." She smiled and she headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

As she was laying in bed though, a nagging feeling started to overcome her. Logan was acting weird after their hug. He seemed almost sad. True, she shouldn't have hugged him, she didn't mean to, it just sort of happened, a gut reaction, something that she did almost unconsciously, it felt nice though, she missed him more than she had realized, or at least more than she would let herself admit. Now was not the time to worry about this though, it had been a long day and she needed some sleep. With that she tried to push any thoughts of Logan from her mind.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone! Here is the next chapter in the Just Friends saga. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

 _Three weeks later_

Rory awoke to sunlight streaming in on her face. Rolling over she realized that the other side of the bed was empty. Sliding out of bed, she stumbled out into the kitchen, where she saw Paul sitting, deep in thought.

"Morning" she said cheerfully.

Paul snapped out of his daze. "Morning beautiful." he smiled.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Yes. Please!" Rory said enthusiastically, as she took the steaming cup.

"So. I was thinking, it's so nice out we could spend the day in the park." Paul told her.

"Umm… sure? I was planning on running into the office for a few hours, there's some layout stuff that I'm not entirely happy about for the next issue. I can call you when I'm done?" Rory asked.

"Rory, come on. It's Saturday! Take a full day off for once! You practically spend every waking hour in that office, the weather is finally nice, let's go enjoy it!" He coaxed her.

"Ok, fine. But that just means I'll have to go in tomorrow." Rory told him.

"Fine, that's a fair compromise." Paul said, pulling a picnic basket out of the fridge to take with them.

Rory peeked inside, "geeze, you're really prepared for this, aren't you?"

Paul smiled, "We haven't spent enough time together lately, I thought I'd make today a half decent date day."

"Well it all looks delicious." Rory smiled.

Twenty minutes later, they were on their way out the door, setting off on foot to Central Park.

As they entered the park, they began to walk around. It was so peaceful here, Rory smiled. Once you fully step into the park it was almost as if all the craziness of the city faded away. Settling down near Bow bridge, they spread out the blanket and enjoyed their picnic.

It had been a great afternoon, following the picnic Paul and Rory had taken a walk through the Shakespeare Gardens, and had rented a rowboat to go out on the Central Park Lake. Although Rory found the whole thing a little on the cheesy side, it was nice to take the entire day off.

"Hey, I love you." Paul smiled as he took Rory's hand when they were walking away from boat rental area.

"I love you too." Rory smiled.

"Come on let's go, I have another activity in mind." Paul pulled her along.

Rory followed along quickly, but stumbled to a stop when she realized her destined location. In front of her were a variety of horse and carriages, waiting for riders. Having a flashback, she tried to stay her suddenly rising anxiety.

" _Is that?" Rory asked._

" _For us? Yeah. I'm sorry I know you said you were over big gestures, but that's what wedding proposals are. And tonight with your parents here and your grandparents, I just thought…" Logan trailed off._

" _No, it's not the size of the gesture. It's the gesture itself." Rory told him._

"Hey, Rory… What's the matter? You look spooked." Paul told her.

"Nothing…" Rory said taking a breath.

Plastering a smile on her face she continued. "Really, everything is fine. Let's go, I'm sure it'll be fun."

"I hope so." Paul told her.

Rory tried to push the anxious thoughts out of her mind, sure it had been almost nine years since she had rode in a horse and carriage, but it was a semi-normal activity after all, unfortunately, for her, it gave her an instant reminder of Logan.

Taking Paul's hand and climbing into the carriage, she tried to push the thoughts of Logan, and her last horse and carriage ride from her mind. They settled into the ride and Rory leaned into Paul, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Hey" Paul said.

Rory lifted her head and looked at him. "What's up?" she asked.

"I love you." he told her.

"I love you too." she smiled.

Paul leaned in to kiss her. Breaking their kiss he leaned back and took a breath.

"Rory Gilmore, you are the most wonderful person I know. I count my lucky stars everyday that you took that temp job with the Daily News." Paul began.

Rory had tuned out. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Not here. Not now. She could feel the anxiety rising again.

" _This past year, I realized that I don't know a lot more than I thought I knew, if that makes sense… I'm a little bit nervous. I didn't think I would be. What I'm trying to say is that... I don't know a lot. But I know that I love you... and I want to be with you... forever. Rory Gilmore... will you marry me?" Logan asked looking nervous._

" _Um... um, wow. Um, wow. I... wow." Rory stammered._

" _Is there a yes in between those wows?" Logan asked._

" _Um, I'm just… I'm so...surprised. I-I just... um, would... um... w-will you come talk to me outside?" Rory asked._

Broken out of her thoughts she was able to catch the last of what Paul was asking.

"Rory, will you marry me?" Paul asked holding out a ring.

Everything was flying through her mind. Paul, her wonderful Paul was proposing, and all she could think of was Logan, and his failed proposal from all those years ago. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Her mother had told her someday you'll meet someone, and you'll just know it's right. You won't want to hesitate. You'll just know. But she didn't. She didn't just know. She just kept flashing back.

" _Logan… I'm sorry… I can't. I love you. You know how much I love you. I love the idea of being married to you... but... there are just a lot of things right now in my life that are undecided. And that used to scare me, but now I-I kind of like the idea that...it's just all kind of...wide open. And if I married you, it just wouldn't be."_

"Rory? Hello? Rory?" Paul asked her her expectantly.

Taking a breath, she knew.

"Paul, no. I'm sorry. I can't" Rory said looking down at her lap.

"What do you mean no. Rory?" Paul asked looking tense.

"I mean. I'm sorry. I can't marry you." Rory mumbled.

"Why not?" Paul said through gritted teeth. "Is it because of him?"

Rory jumped. "No Paul, it's not because of him."

"Rory why are you doing this? We've been together almost three years, we live together for christs sake. Isn't this the next logical step?" Paul said starting to raise his voice, drawing the attention of the carriage driver.

"Look, after I told Logan no…" Rory started.

"See it is about him!" Paul yelled.

"No! Paul! Listen to me! After I told Logan no, my mother told me something. She told me that someday I'd meet someone, and I'd just know it's right. I won't want to hesitate. I'd just know, and I'm sorry, I just don't know." Rory told him.

"Well take some time, figure it out." Paul said, pleading with her.

"Paul, no. I'm sorry. I think it's better that we end things, a clean break. I'm really sorry, but I'm just not in that place."

"Come on Rory, don't throw all this away because you have cold feet." Paul tried to grab her hand.

Rory pulled her hand away, "Paul I'm sorry. I don't have cold feet. This isn't going to work. I'm really sorry. I can't marry you so maybe it's just best that we end things now, I'll give you a few days and then I'll come get my stuff."

Paul's eyes hardened. "Excuse me, driver. Can you please stop the carriage?"

As the carriage slowed to a stop, Paul took one last look at her. "Goodbye Rory." He told her and stepped out of the carriage and walked away.

Rory sat frozen to her seat, flashing back to her graduation day from Yale, watching Logan walk away from her.

"Excuse me, miss. Your carriage ride is still paid up for another twenty minutes. Will you be continuing?" the driver asked her.

"Umm… I guess…" Rory responded and the carriage rolled away from the sidewalk.

Rory sat unsure as to what her next steps would be. She couldn't go back to the apartment, she had left most of her stuff there, her car keys, her wallet. She had one credit card on her and her cell phone. It was late Saturday afternoon, there was no point in catching a train to Stars Hollow.

Grabbing her cell phone she made a phone call. "Hey friend. I need to call in a favor."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the carriage pulled to a stop on the west side of the park, and Rory climbed out.

"I'm sorry miss. I hope your day gets better." The driver told her before he pulled back away.

Looking around, she spotted him standing in the distance, leaning against the side of his car waiting for her.

"Hey" he said as she approached him.

"Hey" she replied.

"So what's this favour you need?" he asked.

Rory took a breath. "Ok so this is a big ask… Logan, can I stay with you for a few days?"

Logan looked taken aback.

"What's going on Rory?" he asked.

"Look can I explain later? I really just want to get out of this park." Rory bit her lip.

"Sure Ace, come on. Let's go." Logan told her.

Pulling back into his parking lot, Rory followed him up to his apartment.

"Logan, this is really… nice." she told him as she scanned his apartment.

"Thanks Ace, so tell me. What's wrong?" He told her.

"How do you know something is wrong?" Rory asked.

"I dunno, maybe because I had to meet you in Central Park on a Saturday because you needed a favour. You then tell me that the favour is that you need somewhere to stay for a few days."

"Oh. Right." Rory smiled sadly.

"So…" Logan pressed.

"Paul asked me to marry him." Rory rushed out.

"Oh. Well… Congrats." Logan plastered a smile on his face.

"I'm really happy for you. I like to see my friends happy." Logan continued.

"Logan…" Rory started.

"Look Ace, this is great. Really" Logan pressed on.

"Logan! Do you really think I would be sitting here with you asking for a place to say if I said yes?"

"Oh well… I…" Logan stammered.

"Logan, I said no." Rory said, firmly.

"I'm sorry Ace." Logan started.

"Don't be. It wasn't meant to be." Rory told him.

"That doesn't make it hurt less." Logan told her.

"Logan, after we ended things, my mother told me something very important." Rory started.

Logan started to look very uncomfortable.

"She told me that someday I'd meet someone, and I'd just know it's right. I wouldn't want to hesitate. I'd just know." Rory told him.

"That is pretty sound advice Ace." Logan told her.

"It is. Isn't it?" Rory replied.

"Anyway, I didn't get that feeling with Paul. Not ever. I haven't had that feeling well… Not since… Well nevermind."

Logan looked at Rory expectantly, but when she cut off he decided it was better to change the subject.

"So Ace, pick your poison." Logan said gesturing toward the bar in the corner of his living room.

"That's what friends do right? Help you drink away your sorrows?" Logan asked.

"To be completely honest, I don't really feel like drinking Logan." Rory told him.

"Oh, ok. Well.." Logan was at a loss for what to do for her.

"It's just been a rough day." Rory sighed. "I'm sorry for imposing. I should just go to a hotel."

"No Rory, you stay here. I know just what will cheer you up. I need to go pick a few things up, but you stay here. I'll be back soon." he told her, getting up off the couch.

Logan left Rory to her own devices, sitting on the couch, unsure of where she should go from here. She knew that she definitely didn't want to marry Paul, she loved him, but not enough. It wasn't fair to string him along any longer. That wasn't really the part that was bothering her though, what she didn't understand was why she kept flashing back to Logan.

It was a pretty bad sign from the start, that all Rory could think of during her proposal was her last proposal, but why? Why was her brain stuck on Logan? She didn't know, but she did know that she couldn't worry about that right now.

Sitting around, waiting for Logan to return Rory decided it was time to make the phone call she was dreading.

"Hey, mom." Rory said before Lorelai could say anything.

"Hey hun, what's up?" Lorelai asked.

"Well… I have some news." Rory told her

"Oh?" Lorelai said with a sense of knowing.

"Paul asked me to marry him." Rory said bluntly.

"Oh my god! That's amazing!" Lorelai said trying to sound surprised.

"Mom, you knew?" Rory asked, momentarily distracted.

"Oh hun, of course I knew." Lorelai told her. "We are so happy for you!" she continued.

"Well… Mom… That's the thing…" Rory began.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Mom, I said no."

"Wait, what?" Lorelai asked.

"But why?" she continued.

"A very wise woman once gave me some pretty great advice. She told me that someday I'd meet someone, and I'd just know it's right. I wouldn't want to hesitate. I'd just know." Rory told her.

"Well that is pretty great advice honey, but isn't that what Paul is to you?" Lorelai asked.

"No mom, that's that Paul is for me to you." Rory said.

"I just couldn't go through with it, when he was asking me I froze, I couldn't focus, I knew then that I didn't love him, not enough, not like I thought I did." Rory explained.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry. Do you need me to come? Do you need to wallow?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom, no. It's ok, really. I'm a big girl, I'll be fine." Rory told her.

"What are you going to do honey?" Lorelai asked.

"Well I told Paul I'd give him a few days, then I'm going to get my stuff and move into a new place." Rory told her.

"Well honey, what are you going to do in the meantime?" Lorelai questioned.

"Well… mom… I'm going to stay with a friend for a few days." Rory told her.

"What friend?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom" Rory countered.

"What friend, Rory?" Lorelai asked again.

"I'm at Logan's" Rory reluctantly told her mother.

"I should have known that this had something to do with him." Lorelai snapped.

"Mom. Trust me, it's not what it sounds like." Rory tried to tell her.

"Rory, I don't know what to think." Lorelai sighed, "I just know I don't like this. Paul deserves better than that." Lorelai told her.

"You mean like Max deserved better?" Rory snapped.

"Ouch." Lorelai said.

"Mom, think about it. I don't love him, not enough, you know plenty about that." Rory told her.

"I don't have to defend my actions to you, I told Paul no. I needed a friend, Logan is my friend." Rory said.

"Logan is not just your friend Rory, trust me, a mother knows." Lorelai responded.

"Mom, just drop it. Please. This chapter is over, Paul and I are done. Logan and I are friends. That's it." she said, as she heard Logan walk back into the apartment.

"Look mom, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Rory hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

"Hey Ace, as promised, I came up with the best thing to cheer you up." Logan smiled as he held up a stack of dvd's and a bag of junk food.

"I figure we could gorge ourselves on junk and take-out and have a good old fashioned Gilmore movie night."

"Logan! That sounds fantastic! Thank-you" Rory gushed.

Four movies later, Rory decided it was time to throw in the towel. Logan had fallen asleep on the other end of the couch.

"Logan" she nudged him.

"Logan, wake up!" she said.

Logan shook his head. "Ace, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just that the fourth movie just ended, and it's getting pretty late. We should get some sleep." she told him.

"Ok well, this is only a one bedroom, so you take my room and I'll stay out here on the couch." he told her.

"No way Huntzberger, I'm imposing on you enough already, I can't take your room from you. Plus this couch is super comfy. I'm good out here. Really." Rory told him.

"Are you sure Ace, it's really no trouble." he asked.

"Really, it's fine." she smiled.

"Well, at least let me give you something more comfy to wear." Logan got up and disappeared into his bedroom, quickly returning with a pair of sweatpants and a tshirt.

"Thanks" Rory took the items and headed to the bathroom.

"Ace, while I was out I picked you up a toothbrush, I left it on the bathroom counter for you." Logan called to her.

"Thanks" she hollered back.

Closing the door she quickly changed and brushed her teeth. Pausing to look in the mirror she muttered to herself "God my life is such a mess."

Shaking her head, she headed back out to the couch where Logan was laying out a blanket and pillows.

"Logan, thanks. For everything. I really appreciate it." Rory told him.

"Ace, for you. Anything." He smiled and headed into the bathroom.

Sitting down on the couch, she really began to process everything that had happened. She had broken up with Paul, it really wasn't a good sign when all you could think about was your ex-boyfriend, when your current boyfriend was asking you to marry him. She really didn't know what that meant, but she did know she was 100% happy with her decision, no regrets. And now, she was here, sleeping on her ex-boyfriend's couch, the same guy whose proposal she had turned down almost nine years ago, wearing his clothes, smelling like him. Oh god, she smelled like Logan. Suddenly she began to cry, trying to be quiet about it, she laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over her.

Logan exited the bathroom, andimmediately noticed the sniffling form laying on the couch. He wanted to go comfort her, that's what friends did, but this was also no ordinary situation, he knew he had to give her space. Instead, he walked into his bedroom, shut the door, and rested his head against it. This friendship was going to be much harder than he thought.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! I hope you had a wonderful turkey day! I have to say I am incredibly jealous of all you lucky people with the day off tomorrow. Not only do I have to work, but I have a meeting after work I need to attend so I won't get to start watching the revival until sometime tomorrow evening! In the meantime, here is the latest chapter for you to enjoy. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

* * *

A week had passed since Rory had declined Paul's proposal. She had spent the week sleeping on Logan's couch, and they had fallen into a steady rhythm of co-habitation, however it was now bright and early on Saturday morning and Rory was awaiting the arrival of her crew of worker bees who would be helping her move her stuff out of Paul's apartment and into one of her own.

She had found a small bachelor style apartment, only six blocks from The Current offices, it was within her price range, and it just so happened that there was a coffee shop just around the corner. It felt like it was meant to be. She had put a deposit down on it on Wednesday, and today was the day of the big move.

In honour of the occasion, and as a way to thank Logan for letting her sleep on his couch for the week, Rory had risen early in an attempt to make him breakfast.

She had picked up all the ingredients the night prior on her way home from work. In an effort to keep the gossips away, Rory and Logan agreed it would be best if they didn't travel to and from work together, so on Rory's way home on Friday she thought it would be a good time to pick up everything she would need.

Pulling out eggs, bacon, and bread, Rory set to work to make french toast. Unsurprisingly, it was not going very well. The bacon was burnt and the french toast was soggy. She was going to have to scrap the bacon, and she had just enough bread left to try one more batch of french toast.

As she was throwing everything out, she heard Logan's bedroom door open. She sighed, so much for a surprise.

"Ace, what do we have going on here?" Logan asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, as a thank-you for everything, I thought I'd make you breakfast. It didn't go very well." Rory grumbled.

"Well, thank-you for the effort Rory. It really means a lot." Logan smiled grabbing a cup of coffee.

"I do have to say, I certainly missed your coffee making skills." he told her, causing Rory to blush.

"Well, since breakfast was a bust, we've still got two hours before the crew gets here, why don't you let me buy you breakfast instead?" Rory asked.

"Rory, really. You don't need to buy me breakfast, it was nothing, you needed somewhere to crash, that's what friends are for." Logan told her.

"I know I don't need to, but I want to. Go get dressed, come on Huntzberger!" Rory smiled.

"Ok, ok. Give me five minutes." Logan said as he walked back toward his bedroom.

As they left Logan's building, both were so caught up in conversation that neither of them noticed the photographer standing across the street.

Soon after, Logan and Rory settled into a booth in the back in the restaurant and ordered their breakfast.

As they waited Rory bit her lip.

"Logan, I just wanted to say thank-you so much for everything. I can't imagine what I would have done without you this week. You really are my hero." she blushed.

"Ace, really, don't sweat it. I know you would do the same thing for me in a heartbeat." Logan told her.

As they ate, they fell into a comfortable silence.

By the time they were finishing up their meals, Rory's cellphone rang.

"Hey!" Rory answered.

"Where are ya kid?" Her mother asked on the other end of the phone.

"Logan and I are just finishing up breakfast. We can meet you at Paul's in about 25 minutes." Rory told her.

"Really, Rory. Do you really think it's a good idea to bring him with you to Paul's?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh my god Mom. You're being ridiculous, it's none of his damn business." Rory hissed, and signaled to Logan that she was stepping away for a second.

"Rory, Paul was such a good guy, don't you think he deserves a little more than this?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom, I swear. I think you're more worried about him than you are about me. If that's the case, maybe you should just go home. Whatever happened to respecting my decision? I'm a grown woman, I didn't want to marry Paul. Why can't you just understand that?" Rory raised her voice, as she stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"Rory. I'm just worried that you're going to wake up one day and realize that you made a mistake." Lorelai told her.

Rory bit her tongue before she blurted to her mother that she she had already felt some doubts, not about Paul, but about what it meant that she had kept flashing back to Logan during Paul's proposal. She knew better than to share that particular fact with her mother though. It would just make everything more complicated. Not to mention the fact that she and Logan were in a good place now, she was glad to have him back in her life, work was going well, and she honestly felt, for at least today, at peace.

Instead, she said "Mom, seriously. It just wasn't meant to be. The only reason the relationship lasted as long as it did was because we spent the majority of the relationship living in different cities. By the end of it, I almost felt like I was suffocating, he was getting needy and possessive. He basically told me he didn't want to speaking to Logan. I tried to push past it, but when he asked, I immediately knew, it was over."

"As long as you are 100% ok with your decision, then that's what I'll support." Lorelai told her.

"Thanks Mom. I'll see you soon. Ok?"

"See you soon. Rory."

As Rory hung up the phone, she saw Logan stepping out of the diner.

"Hey, I took care of the bill. Ready to go?" he asked her.

"Logan! No! This was supposed to be my treat!" Rory pouted.

"Really, it's ok Ace. Another time." Logan grinned as he hailed a cab to head toward Paul's apartment.

* * *

Standing outside the building, Rory took a deep breath.

"Are you ready for this?" Logan asked her.

"Yeah. I am." Rory responded and she reached to open the lobby door.

Stepping into the lobby she was greeted by Lorelai, Luke, Lane, Zach, and Brian.

"Hey guys!" Rory said, forcing a smile onto her face.

She was greeted by an echo of "Hey's".

"Ok, are we ready for this?" Rory asked.

"Fortunately most of my stuff is still in boxes, so this should be pretty quick and painless." Rory told them all.

"Paul should be out of the apartment while we are there. He sent me an email asking me to leave my key on the counter." Rory told them, as they piled into the elevator.

Arriving on the fifth floor, everyone allowed Rory to step out first, and lead the way to Paul's apartment.

Unlocking the door and stepping inside, she saw that Paul was standing by the sink.

"Umm… Hey." Rory said rather awkwardly.

She was met by silence.

"I… uhh… thought you weren't going to be here." she said trying to fill the void.

More silence.

"Well… I… uhh… guess we are going to get my stuff so we can get out of your hair." Rory said.

"Ok guys, most of my stuff is stored in the spare bedroom which is over that way." said Rory, pointing.

"Mom, why don't you help me gather up and pack the rest of my stuff.

Three hours later, the last of Rory's stuff had been loaded into Luke's truck, and the attached u-haul behind it.

As they were getting ready to leave, Rory paused.

"Hey guys, just give me a minute. I think I forgot something." Rory said, and she turned to head back into the building.

Knocking on the door, Rory turned the knob.

"Paul? Hey. Look, I just wanted to say how sorry I am about everything. You're a great guy, you'll make someone very happy one day. I wish that person could have been me." Rory told him.

"I hope you're happy Rory." Paul told her, and then walked into his bedroom and closed the door.

Sighing, Rory walked out of the apartment, shut the door and headed back out to the sidewalk to meet everyone.

* * *

It had been such a busy week at work, and Rory looked at the clock. She was supposed to leave in 15 minutes. She was ducking out of work early to head back to Connecticut for the weekend.

During the move, Lorelai had suggested that they make another attempt at a Friday night dinner, and so Rory thought that there was no better time than the present to head home for a weekend.

It had been a great week. Work was going really well, and having all of the visitors last weekend had really cheered Rory up.

Before everyone had headed back to Star's Hollow, they all went out for dinner. Logan had headed out before that, he had an early flight as he was going to be in Palo Alto for the week for meetings. It had been a fun evening, and it reminded Rory of just how much she missed everyone, it made her all the more excited for a weekend at home.

Just as she was gathering her belongings to head out, her desk phone rang.

"Hello, Rory Gilmore speaking." she answered.

"Hey, Rory. Could you pop up to see me for a minute?" Jim asked her.

"Jim, is this something that could wait until Monday? I was just about to head out the door. I'm going to Connecticut for the weekend." Rory told him.

"No Rory, it's important. It'll only take a few minutes." Jim told her.

"Ok, I'll be right up." she told her boss.

Rory had no idea what Jim might want to talk to her about, but it plagued her thoughts all the way to the thirtieth floor.

Walking into Jim's office, she smiled.

"Rory, Hey. Could you shut the door please?" Jim asked.

Looking confused, Rory responded "Oh. Ok." and shut the door and took a seat.

"Rory, a friend of mine is an editor for Page Six. He gave me a call this afternoon, as a professional courtesy, before they ran a story." Jim told her.

"Oh?" Rory said, sounding confused.

Jim opened the folder that was sitting on his desk. Staring back at Rory was a photo of Rory and Logan from last Saturday. He had his hand on the small of her back, it had been taken when they were exiting Logan's building to go for breakfast.

"Oh." Rory said.

"So. Page Six did some digging." Jim said, and he turned to the next page, which displayed another photo of Rory and Logan, this one, taken at her Yale Graduation Party."

"Oh." Rory said again, slumping in her seat a little.

"Now, you're in luck. My buddy owed me a favour. A big one. I convinced him to drop the images, and the full story, and run it as a blind item. Now, normally, your private life is your business, but when it could have an affect on your work life it becomes my business. So. Rory. What's going on?" Jim asked.

"Ok. Jim. You have to know, it's not what it looks like." Rory said.

Taking a breath, she continued.

"The digging they did, that's probably all true. Logan and I dated, for the better part of three years. See this picture right here?" Rory said pointing.

"This picture was taken at a party celebrating my graduation from Yale. This was the night that Logan asked me to marry him." Rory told her boss.

"I told him I couldn't marry him. I was only 22, I wasn't ready for anything along those lines at that point. We broke up. That was the last time I saw him until the night of the merger party." she continued.

"I see" Jim said.

"I know what this looks like. Really, I do. But I promise you, that's not what this is. Please believe me." Rory told him.

"So, what's going on then?" Jim asked.

"Two weeks ago, my boyfriend Paul, asked me to marry him. I told him no. Since I lived with him, I needed somewhere to stay for a few days until I found an apartment. I don't have a lot of close friends in the city, so I asked Logan if I could crash on his couch for the week. This picture was taken as we were leaving to meet my family to move me out of Paul's apartment." Rory said pointing at the first photo.

"I can assure you, my relationship with Logan is purely platonic these days." Rory told him, looking serious.

"I trust your judgement Rory. But please, in future, let's try not to keep secrets like this. I trust you, but I don't want rumours to potentially hurt your reputation as a professional. You've done such great work since you've been here." Jim told her.

"Thank-you. Also, I would really appreciate if you would keep this to yourself. I'd rather people not find out about my past with Logan, and he's so busy I don't want him to worry about things unnecessarily." Rory told him.

"No problem." Jim told her. "Have a good weekend."

"Thanks, you too." Rory told him and got up to head out for the weekend.

* * *

Traffic was heavy, so Rory was about forty minutes late arriving in Hartford. Pulling into her Grandmother's driveway, Rory momentarily paused, realizing this was her first time back at the house since that failed Friday night dinner months ago.

Tears crept to her eyes as she walked to the front door. Knowing that crying was not going to do anything, she took a breath, plastered a smile on her face and knocked.

Surprised when Emily answered the door herself, Rory paused for a moment before saying "Grandma! How are you?"

"Oh you know, my maid is completely inept. She doesn't speak English, and apparently doesn't understand the concept of hospitality." Emily greeted her.

Following Emily into the living room, Rory spotted her mother and waved.

"A martini?" Emily asked Rory.

"Yes please." Rory responded. "I'm just going to run to the powder room quickly, I drove here straight from work."

Heading to the washroom, Rory was momentarily distracted as she walked by Richard's study. Stepping in and shutting the door, she took a deep breath. The tears sprung back to her eyes, taking a moment and running her hand across his desk. She missed him so much. It had been eight months since they lost him, and not a day went by without thinking of him. She shook her head though, she needed to get back.

Heading into the washroom, Rory splashed water on her face before heading back into the living room.

"So Grandma, how have you been? I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to get out for a visit. Work's been crazy."

"I'm as good as can be expected. It's tough, but I'm trying to take care of myself. I'm going to go to Europe for the summer, sort of a cleansing experience." Emily told her.

"That sounds like a great idea." Rory told her.

"Now, where is that lovely boyfriend of yours?" Emily asked Rory.

"Oh… umm…" Rory shot a look at her mother.

"Well. Grandma. Paul and I broke up… A few weeks ago." Rory told her.

"Oh? You two seemed so happy. What on earth happened?" Emily asked.

"Well…" Rory started.

"Yes Rory?" Emily responded.

Shooting another look at her mother, Rory continued. "I thought Mom would have told you."

"He didn't break up with you did he? Leave you for another woman? You always were too good for him." Emily said.

"No Grandma. That's not quite how it went down." Rory told her.

"Well, how did it go down then?" Emily questioned.

If looks could kill than Lorelai would most certainly be dead at the hands of Rory.

"Well… Grandma. Paul asked me to marry him." Rory started.

"Oh! That sounds wonderful Rory! What happened?" Emily asked.

"I told him no Grandma. I just didn't feel the same way for him that he did for me." Rory bit her lip.

"Rory for heaven's sake. You aren't getting any younger. First you turn down a perfect match like Logan Huntzberger."

Lorelai snorted into her martini.

"What Lorelai?" Emily snapped.

"Nothing." Lorelai responded.

"Then, this. Rory, if you aren't careful you are going to end up alone." Emily chastised.

"Mom, I really don't think Rory needs a lecture right now. Let's just go enjoy dinner." Lorelai responded.

"Look Grandma, I know it's not ideal, but really, I learned that I should have ended things with Paul a long time ago. It wasn't meant to be." Rory told her grandmother.

"Well it's too late now anyway. Say, I ran into Shira last week at the club. She told me that Logan is back on the east coast." Emily told Rory.

"Hey, look at the time. Hey! Mom, I'm really hungry. Can we eat now?" Lorelai asked trying to change the subject.

"Oh Lorelai, do you ever think of anything except your stomach?" Emily rolled her eyes.

"Well come on then." Emily told both girls.

Rory mouthed the words thank you to her mother as they followed Emily into the dining room.

The salad course had gone very well, Lorelai's efforts to change the subject had worked, and had turned the conversation more toward herself than Rory.

Eventually though, the subject had turned back toward Rory.

"So. Rory, how is your job going anyway?" Emily asked over dessert.

"It's really great Grandma! I absolutely love it. They are giving me the flexibility to edit, I am gaining so much experience, and I'm also allowed to write whenever I see fit. I've already put five articles in the magazine since I started." Rory told her.

"That's wonderful Rory! I'll have to get a subscription!" Emily smiled.

"Yeah Grandma! It really is great! My co-workers are amazing. All the writers are so hard working, and my boss Jim is really supportive." Rory told him.

"We had this emergency a few weeks back, the server we store everything on crashed and we lost everything on the day we had to send the magazine to the printers." Rory told her.

"Oh no. Rory, that's horrible! What did you do?" Emily asked.

"Well we all jumped in and did our part and Logan really stepped it up and saved the day." Rory said, immediately regretting her words.

"Logan?" Emily asked.

"Uhh…." Rory responded.

"Oh, Rory just has a co-worker who happens to be named Logan." Lorelai tried to cover.

"You know, Shira did tell me that Logan's company was involved in magazine publishing." Emily said as Rory started to sink lower in her chair.

"Rory, sit up would you? I swear, you would never know you are a thirtysomething woman." Emily chastised.

"So. What is this Logan's last name?" Emily asked suspiciously.

"Huntzberger." Rory muttered so low no one could hear her.

"I didn't quite hear that. Could you speak a little louder?" Emily asked.

"Huntzberger! Ok? Happy? I'm working with Logan Huntzberger!" Rory shouted.

Emily smiled.

"And now you're single, and from what I've heard, he's single too. This is just so wonderful!" Emily's eyes gleamed with joy.

"Grandma, really. It's not like that! We are just co-workers, friends. But that's it, and that's all it's going to be." Rory told her.

"Rory this is such a wonderful opportunity to fix what happened between you two." Emily said.

"Grandma, please let this be." Rory said.

"Oh! Look at the time!" Lorelai said.

"We've really got to get going, Mom. I told Luke I'd have her home by 9." Lorelai said.

"Thanks for dinner Grandma. It was wonderful to see you." Rory said, giving her grandmother a hug before following her mother out to the entryway.

Standing in the driveway, Rory said. "Oh my god. I can't believe I let that slip. I'm never going to hear the end of this. How could I have been so stupid?" Rory asked her mother.

"Rory, this is my mother we are talking about, she was bound to find out about it sooner than later." Lorelai said.

"I'll follow you home?" Rory asked.

"See you there." Lorelai smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors** **Note:** It's here! It's here! I'm not going to comment on it in case you haven't watched all of it yet. This is why there was no chapter yesterday though, back to our regularly scheduled posts today. Again, thanks in advance to my wonderful reviewers.

* * *

It had been a wonderful, relaxing weekend in Star's Hollow. Rory felt unbelievably relaxed walking back into the office on Monday morning.

The morning had been flying by. Rory was sitting at her desk working on an article she was going to include in the next issue when she heard a commotion out in the main office area.

Getting up from her desk to see what was going on she saw people running around in a bit of a panic. Stepping out into the office further she saw that whatever was going on, was happening over by the board room. Heading that way she went to investigate.

Arriving outside the boardroom she saw Logan standing outside the door on his cellphone.

Peeking into the boardroom she saw Jim lying on the floor with one of the writer's sitting with him.

Seeing that Logan had hung up his cell phone Rory asked him. "Logan, what's going on?"

"Jim and I were meeting in here and he collapsed. We think he might have had a heart attack." Logan told her looking serious.

"Is he ok? What's going on?" Rory asked concerned.

"Well, he's conscious, but in a great deal of pain. I was on the phone with 911. They should be here any time. I'm going to ride to the hospital with him, meet his wife there." Logan told her.

"I should come, I want to be there." Rory said.

"Ace, I need you to stay here and hold down the fort. Look around, everyone is on edge. I need you to calm everyone down. I promise I'll call as soon as I have an update." Logan told her.

Rory nodded.

Soon the paramedics had arrived and Rory watched as the paramedics prepared Jim for transport to the hospital. Once the elevator doors closed and the writer's and Rory were the only ones left on the floor.

"Ok everyone, can I have your attention please. I know we all know and love Jim, and that we are all very worried about him, but we all know that he would want today to be business as usual. Let's take some time to get our bearings, but then, let's try to get back on task." Rory said.

Everyone nodded.

The rest of the workday slowed to a crawl. It was almost as if time was standing still, and by six, Rory had still not heard from Logan.

She had already sent everyone else home for the day, but stuck behind waiting to get any news. In order to get the staff to leave she promised that if she had heard anything she would send out a work-wide email to let them know of the update.

Truth be told, she hadn't gotten anything done in hours. She just couldn't focus, she was so worried about Jim, and it was also bringing back painful memories of her grandfather.

Rory was brought out of her daze by a knock on her office door. She looked up to see Logan, looking worn out and a little worse for wear.

"Hey! How's Jim doing?" Rory asked.

"Hey. Mind if I sit down?" He asked.

"Of course." Rory gestured to the open chair."

"So, how's Jim doing?" Rory asked again.

"That's what I wanted to come talk to you about." Logan said.

"He's not… Is he?" Rory asked, looking worried.

"No. No. He's ok." Logan told her.

"Oh thank god." Rory told him.

"It's going to be a long recovery though, when I left he was waiting to go in for a quadruple bypass." Logan explained.

"Oh, no!" Rory reacted.

"Yeah. After his wife arrived, they had a long talk. Jim decided that they think it's best if he retires. He was planning to do so in two years anyway, and I think after everything that happened today, it scared them into moving up that timeline." He told her.

"That makes sense" Rory nodded.

"Yeah, so effective immediately, Jim has stepped down as editor-in-chief. The board has already been notified."

Rory nodded. "So where do we go from here?"

"Well, that's why I'm so late getting back. I was meeting with the board. Here, this is for you." Logan said as he handed her an envelope.

Quizzically, Rory took the envelope and opened it.

 _Rory Gilmore,_

 _Please accept this offer for the position of editor-in-chief of The Current magazine, effective immediately. Please consult with Mr. Huntzberger regarding your new salary offer._

Rory looked up.

"Really? Why me?" Rory asked.

"Well it helped that Jim insisted that it be you that takes over, but also, the magazine has seen so much success since you came on board, that the board of directors were sold immediately on your candidacy." Logan smiled at her.

"That can't all be attributed to me though, I came on at the same time as the merger, it was your company that wanted the magazine to go online." Rory rambled.

"Ace, stop selling yourself short. You deserve this!" Logan told her.

"Well then… I guess I accept!" Rory squealed and jumped up causing Logan to stand. She ran around the desk and hugged him.

"Oh, I guess that wasn't the most appropriate thing, you are my direct supervisor now. Rory blushed.

"In this case though, I'm thinking of you as Logan, my friend, not Logan my boss." Rory said trying to mask the butterflies in her stomach.

Logan smiled, though there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"I feel bad though, I am getting this amazing opportunity. There aren't too many editors-in-chief who are my age, I just wish it wasn't at the expense of someone else's health." Rory said, thinking back to what was going on with Jim.

"It's true Rory, and I wish this wasn't happening to Jim, but I can't think of anyone better to step up to the helm of this magazine." Logan told her.

"Well I appreciate your vote of confidence." Rory smiled.

"Now, we are going to have a lot to take care of. Moving you upstairs, finding a new managing editor, making sure that this transition is as seamless as possible." Logan said.

Rory bit her lip. "If you wouldn't mind, for now, I'd like to stay down here on the floor with the writers. Once we find a new managing editor, I'll move upstairs, but this is going to be a tough transition so I would like to keep things as close to the status quo as I possibly can for now." Rory explained.

Logan nodded. "Sure, no problem."

"Thanks Logan. For everything." Rory said.

"Anytime Ace. Now, I'd really like to take you out for a celebratory drink, but to be honest, I think I'm going to need to put it off until another day. It's been a long, exhausting day, and I think I just need to go home and get some sleep. But first, here. In this envelope is your new salary" Logan told her.

"Have a good night Logan." Rory said, and with that Logan left her office to head for the elevators.

Opening the envelope, Rory's eyes went wide, it was getting late though she soon needed to head home. Sitting, thinking for a minute, Rory decided to write notes for a short statement to give the staff the information in the morning.

* * *

The next few weeks at The Current flew by, jumping into the editor-in-chief position was tough, made even moreso by the fact that they hadn't so far been able to find a replacement for Rory's old position as managing editor.

The staff had been sad to see Jim go, but were very supportive of Rory stepping into the editor-in-chief position.

In an effort to try and keep things as normal as possible, Rory was juggling the responsibilities of managing editor and her new position. Logan was supporting her as much as he could, and took some of the workload off her plate whenever he could but Rory was feeling more and more stressed by the day. In addition to her regular responsibilities, she also was now one of the key players for the networking side of things.

Rory generally didn't mind attending industry events, but with all the added stress, all she wanted to do tonight after work was to crawl in bed early and get a good night of sleep. Unfortunately, tonight she was required to attend a black tie event uptown, promoting the magazine.

Logan had told her he would pick her up at eight. It was now five minutes to, and she was finally ready. She took one last look in the mirror, and smoothed out her black satin evening gown, fastened her earrings and took a deep breath. It was Friday. She just had to get through this evening, then she could get a little bit of rest. Just one more night, then tomorrow, she was planning on sleeping in as late as she possibly could.

Her cellphone beeped, indicating that Logan had arrived, and she grabbed her handbag and headed down to the town car.

"Hey." Rory said as she slid into the backseat.

"Hey yourself." Logan responded.

"So, how long are we required to stay tonight?" Rory asked.

"Got somewhere you need to be Ace?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. My bed." Rory said, blushing realising the connotation that that could have.

Logan laughed, but Rory could feel like the tension had risen a little.

"To be completely honest. I am so tired. I don't think I've ever been this tired. It's been a long few weeks." Rory explained.

"I hear ya there Ace." Logan responded and the two soon fell into another conversation about work.

Arriving at the venue, Logan got out of the car first and reached for Rory's hand to help her out of the car to a dozen flashbulbs taking their photo.

Realizing what was going on, Rory became worried. It was only a matter of time before someone else put two and two together about their history.

There was nothing she could do about that tonight though, so she plastered a smile on her face as she walked by the cameras.

Inside, Logan headed straight for the bar, and Rory followed suit. This may have been a networking event, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a drink or two.

After ordering a martini with a twist, Rory followed Logan around the, they were after all, working as a team to promote The Current.

She had to admit it was a lovely party, the music was good and the food was amazing. Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. She had to admit, she was having fun, even if this wasn't the place that she wanted to be right now.

She had also been making great connections, speaking to editors from People, Time, Entertainment Weekly, and Sports Illustrated. All in all, it was a good party.

She had lost Logan about an hour prior to a few guys from a magazine owned by the Huntzberger Publishing Group. She had noticed his absence, almost in the same way she would have back in their Yale days, there was a slightly empty feeling knowing she had come with him but had not seen him for the last little while. She shook her head, this was crazy. It was definitely time to get another drink.

Sipping her martini, she surveyed the room. Logan was still over by the Huntzberger Publishing guys, though he happened to catch her eye as she looked his way. Seeing that he was now shaking hands with the group, Rory realized he was making his way back over toward her.

"Sorry about that" Logan told her.

"No big deal, I had a nice long chat with the editor of Time _._ While you were gone. Nice guy!" Rory told him.

"You know what HPG is like, they spot a Huntzberger and they either feel the need to corner them, or run away as fast as they can. Unfortunately for me, they wanted to chat." Logan explained.

"Oh?" Rory responded.

"Yeah. It sounds like dad sent them, trying to get me to come back into the fold. Merge my company with HPG. I told them there was no way in hell that was happening." Logan laughed.

Rory nodded.

"No offence, but thank god." Rory told him.

"Ace, who are you kidding? You know exactly how I feel about Mitchum. Now that I've been out of his clutches, there's nothing that could make me want to go back. Plus I dunno, I think I've been pretty successful on my own." Logan told her.

"That's true" Rory said.

"So. Now that you've finished your drink. What do you say I take you for a spin around the dance floor?" Logan asked.

"Oh, Logan. I don't know, I'm really not much of a dancer." Rory told him.

"That's not true and we both know it." Logan told her and grabbed her hand and dragged her out onto the dance floor, just as a new, slower tune was coming on.

"I seem to recall a certain Miss Gilmore pretty insistent on dancing with me many moons ago." Logan smiled as he pulled her in, to dance.

"Yeah, that was different though." Rory responded.

"Different how?" Logan pressed.

"Well…" Rory started.

"Yes?" Logan responded.

"Are you really going to make me say it?" Rory asked.

"Yes Ace. I am." Logan told her.

Biting her lip, Rory began. "Well back then, I just wanted to know what it was like to be with you. No strings attached." Rory told him, though as the words came out of her mouth, she finally noticed the butterflies that had been in her stomach since Logan first grabbed her hand.

"See Ace. That wasn't so hard. Was it?" Logan told her.

"No, I guess not." Rory fake grumbled.

Falling into silence, they continued to dance, for the next three songs.

Rory had fallen into a bit of a daze, this felt so nice. So normal. So right. She was broken from that daze by Logan.

"I'm really glad we both ended up working with The Current."

Rory looked at him and smiled.

"I'm really glad too." she said.

"Well Ace, it's starting to get late, and I promised you that we wouldn't be out too late. After all, I know better than keeping a Gilmore from her bed." he smirked.

"But first, what do you say we get out of here and grab a quick bite to eat. The food here's been good and all, but I'm starving." He said.

"That. Sounds like an excellent idea." Rory said, feeling a blip of disappointment as she let go of Logan.

Leading him off the dance floor, they went to pick up their coats from coat check and headed down to the lobby of the hotel, to head off in search of food.

Fifteen minutes later, they found themselves in a 24 hour diner, getting some funny looks based on their attire.

Ordering burgers and fries (and onion rings for Rory), they quickly settled into conversation, reminiscing on their Yale days.

The burgers and fries had been gone for an hour before either realized how late it was getting.

They were only about 10 blocks from Rory's apartment so Logan suggested he walk her home, then have Frank pick him up there, agreeing, they set off on foot.

Arriving outside her apartment, Logan turned to Rory, their chatter coming to an abrupt stop. As she saw him leaning in, she allowed her eyes to flutter closed. Just before their lips brushed, Rory's brain screamed at her.

"Wait." Rory said opening her eyes again.

Logan sighed and leaned back.

"What is it Rory?" Logan sighed in frustration.

"Logan… we can't… we can't do this." Rory told him, her voice wavering.

"Why not?" Logan asked her.

"Logan! We work together. You're my boss. This isn't professional." Rory told him.

"Screw professionalism." Logan told her, stepping closer to her again.

"You can't tell me you aren't feeling the way I feel right now Rory." Logan told her huskily.

"Logan, it doesn't matter how I feel. We. Can't. Do. This." Rory said.

"Give me one good reason why not." Logan responded.

"You're my boss!" Rory shouted.

"Rory, if you can tell me that you have no feelings for me, I will walk away right now, and leave this matter settled." he told her.

Rory remained silent, a tear escaping her eye.

Wiping the tear away, Logan cupped Rory's cheek.

"Rory, if you tell me to go, I'll go, but you have to tell me you have no feelings for me." Logan almost whispered.

"I can't… I can't do that. But Logan, I'm sorry, I just can't do this. You're my boss." Rory said sadly.

"I was your boyfriend first." Logan countered.

"That doesn't matter Logan. This just isn't professional." Rory told him.

"Rory, seriously! Forget professionalism for just a minute. We have a history, a past, and we went our separate ways. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, walking away from you. But now, now we've been given this second chance. How many people get that opportunity Rory? Don't throw this shot away just because of something as silly as professionalism." Logan countered.

"Logan, this isn't going to happen. This can't happen." Rory told him, firmly.

"What would people think? What would they say? I know you tend to ignore things in the gossip columns, but we've already hit page six. We were their blind item a month ago. They only ran it as a blind item because their editor owed Jim a favour. They had a whole story ready to go, everything from our past, our almost engagement, our working together, and me staying with you when I broke up with Paul. Logan how is that going to look for me? I'm going to look like I got this job because I slept with you!" Rory shouted.

"You're being ridiculous." Logan told her, his eyes darkening.

"I'm being ridiculous? You're being an ass! Look, it doesn't matter how we feel. This just can't happen. Just be my friend Logan. Just please. I can't. Look, I have to go." Rory said, turning and walking toward the building entrance.

"Rory, you're being a total idiot right now." Logan shouted after her.

"Yeah well, that makes two of us." Rory shouted back, and walked into the building, never turning to look back.

Once she was safely in her apartment, the sobs came, slowly at first, until they were all consuming. Sliding her back down the door, she found herself sitting on the floor, the sobs wracking her entire body, crying until she fell asleep, there on her floor, in her evening gown.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Well now that the revival is out, this has officially become an AU story. I'm not going to comment any further than that in case you haven't finished the revival yet. Just a warning before you begin, this chapter is the reason this story has a rating of M. Please, as always let me know what you think!

* * *

It had been a week since their almost kiss. The tension in the office had continued to be thick, almost as if you could cut it with a knife.

Many of the employees of The Current had noticed a change in the atmosphere, but couldn't quite put their finger on what had caused it to change in the last few days. They just knew that their editor-in-chief was snappy. Where she had normally spent the majority of her time out on the floor working with a variety of staff, this week she had been keeping herself closed off in her office, and had been demonstrating an extremely short fuse.

Many had figured that she was finally coming to terms with her breakup with Paul, they just knew that they needed to try and steer clear of Rory.

They also noticed that Logan had not come down to their floor in days. Though he did not overstep his bounds, he was often seen popping in to see how different articles were shaping up. Many attributed this to the fact that reporting and publishing were in his blood. It had been odd though, he had been nowhere to be seen for the last few days.

Today was the first day that it seemed almost vaguely normal again. Logan had been out of the office for the entire day, meeting with business associates across town and Rory had seemed more calm than she had all week.

It was Friday evening around 9:30. Rory was the only person left in the office. She sat at her computer with a frown on her face. She finished typing the document, pressed print, and went to pick the document up from the printer. Taking it back to her desk she read over it one last time, before signing above her name and sealing the page in an envelope. Scrawling Logan's name on the front, she took a breath. It was now or never, and at least now, she could leave the envelope on his desk for him to see first thing Monday morning.

As she stepped into the elevator to travel the thirtieth floor, Rory unconsciously picked at the hem of her skirt. Traveling the two floors felt like forever, and Rory bit down on her lip in an effort to keep her resolve.

As she stepped off the elevator, she walked the fifty feet to Logan's office. As she went to step into his office, she realized that Logan was sitting at his desk. Quickly trying to step back before he could see her she accidentally nudged the door.

Looking up, Logan spotted her.

"What can I do for you Rory?" he asked.

"Oh nothing, don't worry about it. I was just going to drop something off to you, it can umm… wait till later." Rory said.

"Nah, you're here now." Logan stood up and started walking toward Rory. He reached out and took the envelope from her hand.

"I assume this is what you wanted to drop off?"

Rory stammered "uh, well… yeah."

Logan opened the envelope and read the enclosed paper. His eyes darting back and forth, the paper starting to wrinkle in his hand.

 _I Rory Gilmore hereby resign my position as the editor-in-chief of The Current magazine effective June 15, 2016._

 _I want to thank you for the wonderful opportunities I have had at The Current._

"What the hell is this Rory?" Logan asked, anger rising in his voice.

"I thought that was pretty clear." Rory said, looking down.

"Well no shit, but why?" Logan asked.

"Logan, I can't do this." Rory said.

"Can't do what?" Logan asked.

"This!" Rory replied.

Logan reached over and dropped her resignation into his shredder. "This is what I think of this." Logan told her.

"Logan you just can't shred my resignation, I quit! This is what I'm talking about. This isn't working!" Rory told him.

"Rory, what the hell are you talking about?" Logan demanded, his volume increasing.

"Us! This! Everything" Rory shouted.

"Ever since we almost kissed last week, I can't focus on my work properly. It's not good. I'm snappy with my staff, I find myself reading the proofs three times and I still have no idea what I've read. The tension is so thick that even my staff, who have no idea what's going on know something's up." Rory ranted.

"I know we said we could be friends, co-workers, but we can't. This just isn't working."

"So you're willing to throw all this away because of us? Don't be so foolish Rory. You are thirty years old and are the editor-in-chief of a national magazine publication. You can't just throw that away. Do you even have another job lined up?" Logan yelled.

"What does that matter to you? It's none of your business! All I know is this isn't working, I can't look at you every day." Rory shouted.

"It's nice to know you think so little of me." Logan said, his eyes darkening.

"Is that what you think? Christ Logan, you are so thick sometimes. Why the hell do you think I'm doing what I'm doing. I can't do this, it's too hard." Rory said, tears threatening to spill over.

"It's too hard?" Logan asked, calming down slightly.

"Logan, why the hell do you think I said no to Paul? He's there asking me to marry him, on a carriage ride through Central Park and I felt sick. All I could see were flashbacks to my graduation party, thinking about the last time I was asked that question. I was practically having a panic attack sitting in that carriage. All I could think of was you, and the horse and carriage you arranged, and I realized something. I didn't love Paul. Not enough. I realized sitting in that carriage that I didn't once feel for him the way I felt about you, ever. I was sitting there, knowing I had to say no, while wishing I had said yes eight years ago." Rory screamed.

Before she knew it, Logan had closed the space between them, and she found herself being pushed into the door, which shut with a thud as Logan's lips crashed into hers, with an urgency she didn't realize was possible. Wrapping her arms around his neck, they continued to kiss, pressed up against the office door.

Breaking apart for a breath of air, Rory reached out and grabbed Logan's tie, and removed it swiftly, unbuttoning his top button and reaching for the others.

Logan picked her up and she wrapped her slender legs around his waist as she continued to pull at his collar with a sense of need. Still pressed against the door, Logan began to leave a trail of kisses down her neck, breathing heavily and pausing on her collarbone.

"Logan" Rory moaned.

Logan readjusted the way that he was holding Rory, firmly gripping her ass, and turning around, carrying over to the desk. Setting her down on the edge of the desk, he shoved the papers and picture frames away, sending them flying to the floor.

Stripping Rory of her jacket, Logan reached to her shirt, unbuttoning it quickly, and grinning when he saw the black lace bra she was wearing. Returning his attention to her neck, he again began to start a trail of kisses down to her breasts, gently removing her breasts from the cups but leaving the bra on, he took her left nipple into his mouth eliciting a gasp from Rory. Turning the attention to her other breast, Rory moaned.

"Logan" Rory murmured, somewhat unconsciously.

Rory pulled Logan back up to her and began to kiss him wherever she could reach. Gently biting on his ear, Rory heard Logan start to moan as well.

"Ace. I need you." Logan muttered, stepped back and reached down to slide his hands under her skirt.

Swiftly removing her panties he threw them across the office. Slipping his fingers into her folds he quickly found her clit and began to massage it.

Rory moaned, and began to start grinding herself against Logan's fingers. Quickly, Logan slipped a finger inside her, then another and Rory gasped. Rubbing hard, against her clit and moving his fingers in and out of her, he could tell she was about to climax. Logan backed off and Rory sighed, so close, yet so far.

Logan grinned and pushed Rory further back onto the desk. Taking a breast back into his mouth Rory continued to moan, before Logan started leaving a trail of kisses down her stomach.

Pushing her skirt up, Logan leaned down and slid his tongue into her, flicking her clit and making her squirm with pleasure. Sliding his tongue around her, it wasn't long before she felt the familiar build up in pressure associated with her coming orgasm. Just as she was about to crash into climax, he withdrew again, unzipped his pants, and entered her quickly, causing her to orgasm almost instantly. Wrapping her legs around him to pull him in tighter, feeling his hardness move within her, she left a trail of kisses on her neck, practically to the point of leaving her mark on him. This was rough, urgent, hurried. She was sure she would have bruises from the intensity in which they were moving together, as she was balanced on the edge of his desk.

She could feel the pressure building again, and in an effort to keep quiet Rory bit her lip to the point where she felt blood. Logan was moving quicker, and as Rory was hitting the edge of climax she felt the familiar warmth as Logan came within her. Not moving, Logan rested his head on her forehead breathing heavily.

"So Ace." Logan muttered. "Still think you can walk away from this?"

"No, but sleeping with my boss. Didn't think I had it in me." Rory grinned.

"Come on Ace. Let's get out of here, Logan grinned zipping up his pants, and pulling Rory off the desk.

Smoothing down her skirt and finding her shirt she quickly redressed herself.

Grabbing her hand Logan dragged her out of the office toward the elevator refusing to let go. By the time they got in the elevator and the door closed, Logan's lips had found their way back to Rory's neck. Sliding his hand underneath her shirt Rory began to squirm.

"Logan, we're in the elevator at work." Rory whispered, though not stopping him from continuing.

"Who cares Ace, who's going to know. It's Friday night, we're the only ones here." Logan nibbled at her ear. They finally reached the ground floor and Logan whisked her out of the elevator and out onto the street. Hailing a cab, he quickly pulled her into it and gave his address to the cabbie.

Returning his attention to Rory, he began to kiss her, sliding his hand up her thigh. Rory squirmed. "Not here" she whispered. "We'll be there soon. Then I can put you on your couch, undress you slowly, and…" Rory murmured as Logan slipped his hand further up her skirt.

"I'm going to take you into my mouth, licking, and sucking, playing, until you can't stand it anymore." Rory continued.

Logan's hand had found it's way back into her and she moaned a little too loud as the cab driver looked up into the rearview mirror. Rory blushed, closing her eyes, as Logan massaged her. She had never done this before, not in public. Well, they had in public before, but not this close to another person. She blushed but let him continue.

As she felt the pressure building again, she put her hand on his arm and whispered "Logan, stop." but he ignored her and sent her over the edge again. Leaning into him she bit into his shoulder to muffle her moan.

They sat for the remainder of the drive in relative silence, holding on to each other refusing to let go.

Pulling up to his apartment, he pushed the money to the cab driver who grinned, maybe he knew more than he let on.

She was pulling on his arm, dragging him into the building rushing into the elevator and up to his apartment.

Logan once again pinned her up against a door, kissing her as he tried to unlock the apartment. Stumbling in, she pushed him over to the couch, sat him down, and straddled him. Unbuttoning his shirt she swiftly began to undress him, exploring his chest with her mouth, she slid off his lap, and undid his pants. Logan helped by lifting himself as Rory slid his pants and boxers off leaving him fully naked.

Taking him into her mouth, she sucked and swirled her tongue, never pausing. It had been a long time since she had done this particular act, the last time had actually been with him.

Logan's head lolled back as she continued to please him, massaging his balls and flicking the head of his cock with her tongue. She could feel Logan begin to tense up, a sign that he was about to come.

"Ace. Wait." Logan murmured trying to warn her.

Rory ignored him and continued on, soon salty cream filling her mouth. Rory quickly swallowed, wiped her mouth and sat back on the floor looked at Logan and smiled.

"Ace.. That was… wow." Logan ran his hand through his hair.

"Come here." He reached and pulled Rory back up onto the couch with him. She curled in and rested her head on his shoulder, he grabbed a blanket and pulled it over them. Rory pulled back and began to undress herself.

Logan gave Rory an odd but lustful look.

"What? I feel weird cuddling you while I'm fully clothed, and you sir, are not. She had removed her shirt, and bra and went to unzip her skirt. As her skirt fell to the floor she muttered "ohmygod."

"What?" Logan asked.

"My underwear. Logan! My underwear is in your office!"

"Relax Ace" Logan grinned.

"Who's going to see it? Maybe I'll stick them in my desk and keep them as a souvenir." Logan grinned as he pulled Rory back on to the couch.

"Logan" Rory frowned, "what if someone does see?"

"Rory, how are they going to know they're yours. I do have a bit of a reputation after all." Logan reminded her.

"Logan…" Rory said again.

"Relax Ace, I'll make sure I'm in there early enough on Monday, before anyone can see." Logan said and kissed her temple.

He began to run his hand through her hair, pulling her toward him again.

"Logan… wait." Rory murmured.

Logan leaned back to look at her. "What is it Ace?"

"We need to talk about this. And I think I need to sit over there to do so." Rory said as she pointed at the chair on the other side of the room.

"Ace come on, we can talk here" Logan said running his fingers across her shoulder.

"No Logan, we can't, because we are just going to keep getting distracted by each other. Come on, let's talk."

"Ok let's talk" Logan got up and left Rory with the blanket, sitting down in the chair across from her smirking.

"We can't talk like this." Rory reasoned."

"Why not Ace?" Logan grinned.

"Because! I can't focus while you're sitting there all naked like that!" Rory grinned.

"Ok, ok" Logan got up, grabbed another blanket and sat back down.

"So. Let's talk." Logan said.

Rory took a breath. "Whew. Ok. This is a little more nerve wracking than I thought it would be." Rory bit her lip.

"Rory, relax. It's just me." Logan reasoned.

"Ok… So… What is this?" Rory asked.

"Well sometimes when two consenting adults are attracted to each other, their hormones take over." Logan grinned.

Rory threw a pillow at Logan. "Seriously Logan." Rory said.

Logan ran his hand through his hair, "I don't know Ace."

"Oh" Rory responded, looking crestfallen.

"Oh, no. Rory, I didn't mean it like that." Logan said. "I just mean, I don't know what this is either. I do know however, that I like it. I like it very much." Logan looked at her seriously.

"Logan, I… I… meant what I said earlier, I regret saying no eight years ago. It took me a long time to comes to terms with that. I tried to move on, we both see how well I did with that." Rory sighed.

"I dunno Ace, you seem to have done pretty good. You did get proposed to." Logan said sounding disappointed.

"Logan, when Paul proposed to me, all I could think of was you. I think that's a pretty big sign that I didn't move on as well as you think I did." Rory explained.

"When he left me sitting in that carriage after I said no, you were the first person I wanted to call. Not my mom. I always call my mom first, but with that, I was sitting there and the only person I wanted to see, wanted to talk to, was you. You came and found me, and I was so grateful, you took me in, let me sleep on this couch, and I was devastated, not because of Paul, but because it seemed clear that you just wanted to be friends." Rory continued.

"Rory, I wanted nothing more than to comfort you, care for you, hell I wanted to kiss you, make you forget everything that day, but you called and said you needed a friend, I finally had you back in my life, I wasn't going to risk losing that." Logan looked at her.

"Rory, when you told me no all those years ago, something broke inside me. I drank my life away for the weeks after the breakup, then I pulled myself together and tried to move on. No matter how I tried, no one compared, no one could fill that void, so I went back to being casual, fulfilling my needs when necessary, but I've always felt empty. When you walked into that ballroom at the merger party, I felt like the entire world was moving in slow motion, I felt like I had a chance at being whole again. Then I saw you with him, and it nearly killed me." Logan sighed.

"Logan, you don't need to worry about Paul. That ship has sailed, isn't it clear that I chose you?" Rory asked.

"Ace. Did you chose me? Or did you choose you?" Logan asked.

"Logan, I would jump off that tower again, without the umbrella for the chance to choose you." Rory looked at him seriously.

"So where do we go from here?" Logan asked.

"Well… I want to try again. So it all depends on you." Rory said, with a hint of nervousness.

Logan paused, stopping to think.

Rory felt like she was going to have a heart attack, while she waited for his response. She was almost ready to start gathering her clothes, when Logan began to speak.

"I haven't seen anyone since the night of the merger party, I couldn't bring myself to, not with you so close." Logan told her pausing.

Rory looked at him expectantly.

"Well, how does it feel to be dating your boss?" Logan smiled and Rory launched herself at Logan to kiss him.

Breaking the kiss, Rory asked. "Logan, what are we going to do about that whole, you're my boss thing? I can't imagine HR is going to be too happy." Rory said.

"Let me worry about that." Logan said, brushing the hair away from her face.

Rory rested her forehead against Logan's. "I've missed you so much. These last few months have been so tough. So close, yet so far." she sighed.

Logan kissed her on the forehead, "well, we don't have to worry about that. Not anymore."

Scooping her up, Logan carried her into the bedroom where they proceeded to stay for the majority of the weekend, spending the time to really get to know each other again.

As Monday morning rolled around, Rory and Logan prepared to leave his apartment at dawn, she returned to her apartment to change, and he into the office to clean up the mess they left behind on Friday before anyone else might notice it and ask questions.

Rory arrived into the office a short while later to find a large cup of coffee waiting for her at her desk. Hearing a ringing coming from her purse sitting on the floor, her eyes shot wide, her phone. It's been in her purse, in her office all weekend. Scrambling to grab her phone, her mother had tried to call her.

Quickly returning her call, Lorelai answered.

"Good morning daughter!" Lorelai greeted.

"Mom! Hi!" Rory said.

"I haven't heard from you all weekend, so I thought I would check in to see how things are going." Lorelai told her.

"Things are good! Busy! But good!" Rory told her.

"What were you up to this weekend? Lorelai asked.

"Nothing" Rory said.

"Care to elaborate?" Lorelai asked.

"Not at the moment." Rory told her mother.

"Oh, I get it… You finally slept with Logan." Rory could practically hear her mother's smirk through the phone.

"Mom! What? How?"

"Trust me dear, a mother knows. Plus I tried calling you at the apartment a few times this weekend and there was no answer."

"That wasn't a dead give away." Rory said puzzled.

"No, but your response was!" Lorelai laughed.

"Mom!" Rory said

"Come on Ror, it was only a matter of time. That was obvious to everyone maybe except you two." Lorelai said.

Rory just sat and thought for a second.

"So tell me. Are you happy?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah mom. I really am." Rory responded as she shut her office door and explained to her mother that they had decided to try again, skipping over the salacious details.

As the day went on, it was obvious that there was a change in the office atmosphere. Logan had reappeared on the floor getting back to being involved in the magazine, after only a few days away it seemed he must have just been a little too busy to check in. He was as excited and energetic as a kid on Christmas and ready to get the latest issue published.

When the staff looked at Rory, with whom they spent much more time, it seemed like something had changed. To a casual observer it appeared that the editor-in-chief of The Current was happier than she had been in a long time. No one dared ask, but some had their suspicions, especially after noticing a stolen glance or two.


	9. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** Well, this is it. The final part in the Just Friends saga. This is the only part that wasn't written before I saw the revival on Friday night, but this was where I always intended on ending the story. Maybe someday I'll come back to this, but for now this is it. I hope you enjoy this. I have a few ideas up my sleeve for something new, but as a diehard Rogan shipper, I think I need some time to stop and process everything from the revival. Thank-you again for all your reviews, I hope to have something new for you soon.

* * *

It had been two years since that fateful night in The Current offices where she had her last big blow up with Logan Huntzberger. Every day Rory Gilmore thanked the universe for the fact that Logan was sitting in his office when she went to deliver her resignation letter. Had it not been for that moment, she would have walked away from him forever. Everyone had been right, Rory and Logan could not remain just friends, it had to be all or nothing. Rory had resigned herself to the fact that it would be nothing. Instead, now two years later, they were now sitting here, waiting for what seemed like forever for some news.

"Mrs. Huntzberger, the doctor will see you now." The administrative assistant told her, causing her and Logan to stand.

"It's actually, oh, nevermind." Rory told her smiling. After all, it was true, technically she was Mrs. Huntzberger, just that for professionalism sake, Rory had opted to keep her own last name, when she and Logan married eighteen months ago.

They had been the talk of Hartford when the married so quickly after their reconciliation. Many had suspected that a night of passion, had led to a happy accident, forcing the couple to marry to save face, but the months passed, and Rory's stomach never grew, and no baby ever made an appearance. That didn't hold the gossipers at bay though. That may have something to do with Logan's mother however, who still considered Rory to be a gold digger, only after Logan for his money. Needless to say, trips to the Huntzberger household were very infrequent.

Their relationship with Mitchum was better than with Shira, which is why so often they had dinner with him in the city. Just the three of them. They were scheduled to meet with him tonight, that was if Rory was feeling any better. She had been feeling off for weeks now and was beginning to worry that something was seriously wrong.

As they were left in the office, Rory turned to Logan and nervously bit her lip.

"Logan, what if it's something serious?" Rory asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it Ace. After all it could be nothing." Logan responded.

"But it could be something." Rory told him.

"There's no need to worry ourselves unnecessarily." Logan told her, leaning in to kiss her temple.

"Let's just wait and hear what the doctor has to say." Logan smiled trying to mask his own nervousness to make Rory feel better.

They fell into a comfortable silence while waiting for the doctor to come in. As they heard the door Rory grabbed Logan's hand.

Logan gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"So. Doctor. I assume that you called us to come in today was because of my test results?" Rory asked.

The doctor nodded but before he could speak, Rory butted in.

"So tell me. Is it serious?" She asked.

"Yes, in a matter of speaking it is very serious." The doctor told them.

Slumping in her seat, tears started forming in Rory's eyes.

"Shhh Ace" Logan tried to soothe her.

"We don't even know what it is yet. We can do this though, we'll get through this." He said rubbing her back.

The doctor looked at them both and continued. "So as I said. This is serious. It's life changing. It's a challenge. It's a big step. It's completely normal."

"What do you mean? I don't understand." Rory responded.

"Uhh. Rory. I think I just figured out what's going on here." Logan said smiling.

"Well I don't! Someone please fill me in on why I've been feeling rotten, moody, and exhausted for the past two months! I have cancer don't I? Oh my god. I'm dying. I'm too young for this! This can't be happening." Rory ranted.

Trying not to chuckle, Logan asked Rory. "Ace. When was the last time you had your period?"

Pausing to think for a moment, Rory started to say "three weeks… No, that's not right. It was? Oh." The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

Looking to the doctor for confirmation he nodded. "Congratulations, you're going to have a baby."

Logan jumped up pulling Rory to standing with him. Grabbing her around the waist, he spun her around which was easier said than done in this small doctor's office.

Now, if you'd like, Mrs. Huntzberger, we can have you change and give you a sonogram today to see your baby for the first time.

Rory looked at Logan, he nodded. "Yes please, thank you Doctor."

Twenty five minutes later, Rory was laying on an exam table in a Johnny shirt, as a technician squirted ice cold gel onto her still flat stomach.

Moments later, the sound of a heartbeat filled the room as the ultrasound wand made contact with Rory's stomach.

It's not going to look like a whole lot yet, but there's still plenty of time for development. Based on this it looks like you are about 10 weeks along.

Pointing to the screen Logan asked "Is that?"

"Yes" the technician responded.

"That's our baby, Ace." Logan whispered.

"That's our baby." Rory smiled.

Later, after being loaded up on pamphlets and prenatal vitamins Rory and Logan departed the doctor's office and made their way back home.

"I can't believe I didn't realize that I was pregnant." Rory told Logan.

"Ace, you've been under a lot of stress lately at work, it's been crazy. I can't say I blame you, I didn't put two and two together either." Logan responded.

"I know. It's just. I feel like I should have known." Rory said.

"Well Rory, it's not like we were actively trying, so I'm not surprised we didn't notice the symptoms for what they were." Logan told her.

"Logan, we weren't trying! Our baby is an accident!" Rory said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Rory, you are happy about this aren't you?" Logan asked suddenly worried.

"Logan, I'm over the moon, but, I hate that some day, when our child asks those hard questions, I'm going to have to lie and say that of course they were planned." The tears were now spilling down Rory's face.

"Rory. Look at me. Whether or not this baby was planned does not make it any less loved. Now it's been a long day, why don't you climb in bed and have a nap. I can call my Dad and ask him to reschedule." Logan told her.

"No, it's ok. We can go out tonight. But I am going to lay down for a bit first of you don't mind." Rory responded.

"Not at all, let me know if there's anything you need." Logan smiled at her before giving her a quick kiss.

Walking into the bedroom, Rory sat down on the bed. Before she took her nap, there was one thing that she needed to do.

Dialing the number, she listened to the ringing on the other end of the line.

"Hey babe! What's up?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom…" Rory started off.

"Yeah?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm pregnant."

 _Fin._


End file.
